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If the data was text (happens) then you get this. Select the column and reset to &quot;general&quot; format. Does that help?
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If the data was text (happens) then you get this. Select the column and reset to "general" format. Does that help?

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The other workaround is, copy a blank cell --&gt; select the cells with those numbers --&gt; Paste Special --&gt; Add --&gt; OK.
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The other workaround is, copy a blank cell --> select the cells with those numbers --> Paste Special --> Add --> OK.

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If the file is .csv rather than Excel, you cannot simply double click to open it. &nbsp;You have to open an empty Excel workbook and than on the Data tab, use the import to import the .csv file. &nbsp;This will allow you to specify column data types correctly.<br />
<br />
Excel thinks it is smarter than we are but in this situation, it is most definitely NOT.
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If the file is .csv rather than Excel, you cannot simply double click to open it.  You have to open an empty Excel workbook and than on the Data tab, use the import to import the .csv file.  This will allow you to specify column data types correctly.

Excel thinks it is smarter than we are but in this situation, it is most definitely NOT.

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<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
Recently a number of excel data files that I download have columns that are not properly formatted. Number aren't numbers for example.<br />
<br />
I can fix it by running text to columns, but I am curious if this may be caused by answering in excel or some other simple fix.<br />
<br />
Thanks!<br />
Dennis
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Recently a number of excel data files that I download have columns that are not properly formatted. Number aren't numbers for example.

I can fix it by running text to columns, but I am curious if this may be caused by answering in excel or some other simple fix.

Thanks!
Dennis

Excel Question:

Microsoft Access is a rapid application development (RAD) relational database tool. Access can be used for both desktop and web-based applications, and uses VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) as its coding language.

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Excel topics include formulas, formatting, VBA macros and user-defined functions, and everything else related to the spreadsheet user interface, including error messages.