FormattingSSN

[gh]

I have a spreadsheet that has social security numbers in one of the columns:

'123345678 this is how they are displayed in the formula bar when I
select a cell. If I try to format them as 123-45-6789 the formatting
doesn' t work. The number is still displayed as '123345678. What am I
doing wrong?

Thanks

[Ron Rosenfeld]

On Fri, 31 Mar 2006 13:15:53 -0600, gh <[email protected]> wrote:

>I have a spreadsheet that has social security numbers in one of the columns:
>
>'123345678 this is how they are displayed in the formula bar when I
>select a cell. If I try to format them as 123-45-6789 the formatting
>doesn' t work. The number is still displayed as '123345678. What am I
>doing wrong?
>
>Thanks

The leading single quote forces the value into TEXT format.

To convert it to a number

1. Make a backup
2. Select a Blank Cell
3. Edit/Copy
4. Select the range of SSN's
5. Paste Special/Add

Then you should be able to format it.
--ron

[DJH]

There is a Special Format for SSN, but must be enter as a number. No '
before.

The Format is
000-00-0000


"gh" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have a spreadsheet that has social security numbers in one of the
>columns:
>
> '123345678 this is how they are displayed in the formula bar when I select
> a cell. If I try to format them as 123-45-6789 the formatting doesn' t
> work. The number is still displayed as '123345678. What am I doing
> wrong?
>
> Thanks
>