Special+Data+Formatting++The+Easy+Way

Special Data Formatting - The Easy Way

Do you enter a lot of special data into MS Excel, such as zip codes, phone numbers or social security numbers? Ever find yourself wishing that the parenthesis and / or dashes would just fill themselves into the correct locations? I mean, wouldn't it be faster if you could just key 5551234567 in for a phone number and have (555) 123-4567 appear in the cell after you hit the Enter key? Well what can Excel offer?.

To begin with, you'll need to highlight the cells you're going to work with and go to the Format menu, Cells choice. (Ctrl + 1 or a right click and Format Cells choice works too).

With the Format Cells window open, you're looking for the Number tab. Towards the bottom of the Categories list, you're looking for the Special choice.

Take a look at the choices offered on the right-hand side, once Special is selected. All you have to do is choose one of the listed formats (double check that the location choice below is correct, so you'll get the formatting you expect) and click OK. When you return to the worksheet, you'll find that any data entered without the dashes or parenthesis has been transformed. In addition, any new data entered into the cells will not require formatting. Just enter the digits and let Excel do the extra work as you move on to the next one!  