MS Excel:Check For Numbers Stored In a Text Format

Excel can't perform calculations on cell values formatted as text, such as number values that you've imported as text from other databases into Excel. Excel 2002 includes a feature that alerts you to these cells and optionally converts them to numbers. To activate this feature, follow these steps:

1. Go to Tools Options.
2. On the Error Checking tab, select the Enable Background Error Checking and Number Stored As Text check boxes, and click OK.
Now, when Excel finds a number in a cell formatted as text, it will place a green error indicator in the upper left corner of the cell. To convert cells to a number format, select the cell, click the Error Checking Options button displayed to the left of it, and select Convert To Number.