Microsoft Excel depends on data that’s stored correctly. If you receive text values that should be real numbers, use one of these methods to get you back to the real work.

If you are converting more than one column of text to numbers, this is an excellent method to use. Select a blank cell and type 1 into it. Then press Press CTRL + C to copy the cell.

When this happens, use the DATEVALUE function to convert the text dates to Excel serial numbers. To test this function, enter five dates—as text—in cells A5 through A9.

Excel filters help you find exactly what you want, no matter how big your spreadsheet database is. Here's how to set number, text and data filters.

To get rid of the problem, all you have to do is convert dates stored as text into dates. Launch Microsoft Excel 2010 and open the spreadsheet you want to edit.

To convert a serial number to a date format, follow the steps below. Select the cell you want to format. On the Home tab in the Number group, click the bottom right arrow.

Excel's Convert Text to Columns Wizard works only on one column at a time. If the data is in the first column, for example, click on the letter "A" above the column to select the entire column ...

text from one or more cells into one cell—date cells with text cells in an Excel formula, you must first convert the referenced date cells to text; otherwise, you end up with an unexpected result.