What is text formating?

Answer 1

Text format can be used to present numbers as text as opposed to being values. There are occasions when you want numbers on a spreadsheet that don't have any calculations done on them. One good example would be phone numbers. A lot of phone numbers start with a zero. But if you type a number that starts with a zero into a cell, the zero disappears and leaves the rest of the number. That is because it is treating it as a numeric value. If you format the cell as a text cell, then the zero at the start will not disappear.

Another reason is to change the positioning of numbers in a cell. Normally when numbers are type in they go to the right side of a cell. Occasionally you may want them on the left, which is where text goes. So you could use text formatting in the cell to achieve that.

Another reason is if you want to literally display a formula in a cell. All formulas must start with the equals sign. When Excel sees the equal sign it tries to perform the calculation, so it displays the result of the formula in the cell, or possibly an error, but not the formula itself. If the cell is formatted as text before the formula is entered, then the formula will display and not calculate.

All these effects can be achieved by formatting the cells as text or by typing in the single quote before the rest of what you type. So you would type something like:

'01
'=45+10

Answer 2

Text format can be used to present numbers as text as opposed to being values. There are occasions when you want numbers on a spreadsheet that don't have any calculations done on them. One good example would be phone numbers. A lot of phone numbers start with a zero. But if you type a number that starts with a zero into a cell, the zero disappears and leaves the rest of the number. That is because it is treating it as a numeric value. If you format the cell as a text cell, then the zero at the start will not disappear.

Another reason is to change the positioning of numbers in a cell. Normally when numbers are type in they go to the right side of a cell. Occasionally you may want them on the left, which is where text goes. So you could use text formatting in the cell to achieve that.

Another reason is if you want to literally display a formula in a cell. All formulas must start with the equals sign. When Excel sees the equal sign it tries to perform the calculation, so it displays the result of the formula in the cell, or possibly an error, but not the formula itself. If the cell is formatted as text before the formula is entered, then the formula will display and not calculate.

All these effects can be achieved by formatting the cells as text or by typing in the single quote before the rest of what you type. So you would type something like:

'01
'=45+10

Answer 3

Text format can be used to present numbers as text as opposed to being values. There are occasions when you want numbers on a spreadsheet that don't have any calculations done on them. One good example would be phone numbers. A lot of phone numbers start with a zero. But if you type a number that starts with a zero into a cell, the zero disappears and leaves the rest of the number. That is because it is treating it as a numeric value. If you format the cell as a text cell, then the zero at the start will not disappear.

Another reason is to change the positioning of numbers in a cell. Normally when numbers are type in they go to the right side of a cell. Occasionally you may want them on the left, which is where text goes. So you could use text formatting in the cell to achieve that.

Another reason is if you want to literally display a formula in a cell. All formulas must start with the equals sign. When Excel sees the equal sign it tries to perform the calculation, so it displays the result of the formula in the cell, or possibly an error, but not the formula itself. If the cell is formatted as text before the formula is entered, then the formula will display and not calculate.

All these effects can be achieved by formatting the cells as text or by typing in the single quote before the rest of what you type. So you would type something like:

'01
'=45+10