Turn off automatic date format

[jpkeller55]

I searched the site but did not find an aswer to my question. I am copying data from a web site that look like this:

27-40
25-40
8-57
12-53

I want the data to remain as it is shown above but when I paste into Excel, I get the following:

27-40
25-40
Aug-57
Dec-53

It appears if the text does not look like a valid date excel leaves it alone. But if it looks like a possible date, it formats it into a date format. How do I paste this data and prevent Excel from converting it into a date format?

Thanks, Jim

[Gary''s Student]

Format the cell as Text prior to the pasting.
--
Gary's Student


"jpkeller55" wrote:

>
> I searched the site but did not find an aswer to my question. I am
> copying data from a web site that look like this:
>
> 27-40
> 25-40
> 8-57
> 12-53
>
> I want the data to remain as it is shown above but when I paste into
> Excel, I get the following:
>
> 27-40
> 25-40
> Aug-57
> Dec-53
>
> It appears if the text does not look like a valid date excel leaves it
> alone. But if it looks like a possible date, it formats it into a date
> format. How do I paste this data and prevent Excel from converting it
> into a date format?
>
> Thanks, Jim
>
>
> --
> jpkeller55
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> jpkeller55's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=10005
> View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=497367
>
>

[jpkeller55]

That doesn't seem to work. I have tried formatting cells as text before pasting and after pasting and I still get the same results. What am I missing?

[Pete_UK]

Have you tried formatting the cells as text beforehand, then using copy
with Edit | Paste Special | Values? This should not overwrite the
formatting you have set up, whereas copy with paste does.

Hope this helps,

Pete