TEXT function

Why does Excel delete my leading 0’s?

Excel is trained to look for numbers being entered in cells, not numbers that look like text, like part numbers or SKU's. To retain leading zeros, format the input range as Text before you paste or enter values. Select the column, or range where you'll be putting the values, then use CTRL+1 to bring up the Format > Cells dialog and on the Number tab select Text. Now Excel will keep your leading 0's.

If you’ve already entered data and Excel has removed your leading 0's, you can use the TEXT function to add them back. You can reference the top cell with the values and use =TEXT(value,"00000"), where the number of 0’s in the formula represents the total number of characters you want, then copy and paste to the rest of your range.

If for some reason you need to convert text values back to numbers you can multiply by 1, like =D4*1, or use the double-unary operator (--), like =--D4.

Excel separates thousands by commas if the format contains a comma (,) that is enclosed by number signs (#) or by zeros. For example, if the format string is "#,###", Excel displays the number 12200000 as 12,200,000.

A comma that follows a digit placeholder scales the number by 1,000. For example, if the format string is "#,###.0,", Excel displays the number 12200000 as 12,200.0.

Notes:?

The thousands separator is dependent on your regional settings. In the US it's a comma, but in other locales it might be a period (.).

The thousands separator is available for the number, currency and accounting formats.

Following are examples of standard number (thousands separator and decimals only), currency and accounting formats. Currency format allows you to insert the currency symbol of your choice and aligns it next to your value, while accounting format will align the currency symbol to the left of the cell and the value to the right. Note the difference between the currency and accounting format codes below, where accounting uses an asterisk (*) to create separation between the symbol and the value.

To find the format code for a currency symbol, first press Ctrl+1 (or +1 on the Mac), select the format you want, then choose a symbol from the Symbol drop-down:

Then click Custom on the left from the Category section, and copy the format code, including the currency symbol.

Note:?The TEXT function does not support color formatting, so if you copy a number format code from the Format Cells dialog that includes a color, like this: $#,##0.00_);[Red]($#,##0.00), the TEXT function will accept the format code, but it won't display the color.

You can alter the way a date displays by using a mix of "M" for month, "D" for days, and "Y" for years.

Format codes in the TEXT function aren't case sensitive, so you can use either "M" or "m", "D" or "d", "Y" or "y".

Mynda Recommends...

If you share Excel files and reports with users from different countries, then you might want to give them a report in their language. Excel MVP, Mynda Treacy has a great solution in this Excel Dates Displayed in Different Languages article. It also includes a sample workbook you can download.

You can alter the way time displays by using a mix of "H" for hours, "M" for minutes, or "S" for seconds, and "AM/PM" for a 12-hour clock.

If you leave out the "AM/PM" or "A/P", then time will display based on a 24-hour clock.

Format codes in the TEXT function aren't case sensitive, so you can use either "H" or "h", "M" or "m", "S" or "s", "AM/PM" or "am/pm".

You can alter the way decimal values display with percentage (%) formats.

You can alter the way decimal values display with fraction (?/?) formats.

Scientific notation is a way of displaying numbers in terms of a decimal between 1 and 10, multiplied by a power of 10. It is often used to shorten the way that large numbers display.

Excel provides 4 special formats:

Zip Code - "00000"

Zip Code + 4 - "00000-0000"

Phone Number - "[