format cells-how can i set by default the cell formatting

[notrace2004]

hi. how can i set by default the cell formatting to 'general' or 'number' or even 'text'?
i mean i dont want excel to correct let's say: 1.5 to 01.may or 9/12 to 09.dec. is this possible?
thanks.
(i have some programs which export data to excel and instead of numbers in excel appear dates and i can't set the cell format before the data is exported)

[Bob Phillips]

Open a new workbook, select all the cells and format as Text (not General,
that is what you have now). Save that workbook as a template file (file type
xlt) in the XLStart directory.

Think hard before you do it though, all text means that every time you enter
a formula you will have to change the cell first to General, else it won't
work.

--
HTH

Bob Phillips

(replace somewhere in email address with googlemail if mailing direct)

"notrace2004" <[email protected]>
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>
> hi. how can i set by default the cell formatting to 'general' or
> 'number' or even 'text'?
> i mean i dont want excel to correct let's say: 1.5 to 01.may or 9/12 to
> 09.dec. is this possible?
> thanks.
> (i have some programs which export data to excel and instead of numbers
> in excel appear dates and i can't set the cell format before the data is
> exported)
>
>
> --
> notrace2004
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[notrace2004]

thanks... i did that and it works.. i modified the template and now the default format of the cells is text. it works fine if i open excel and i type lets say 4/4, but when i copy/paste from somewhere '4/4' i still have the same problem.. excel corrects it to 04.apr despite the format of the cell which is now text.. what can i do???