Lots of times, I need to manipulate data in Excel before saving the file and sending it out. For example, a column might contain the numbers 1 through 90. I, however, would need the single-digit numbers to have leading zeros. So I would right-click on the column, choose "Format Cells", under the "Number" tab I would click on "Custom", and then type "00" under "Type". This would put a leading zero before all numbers 1 though 9. This is something that can only be done if the cell contains data that is not in the "Text" format
Now if I have a DBF file that I open in Excel (rather than creating an Excel file anew), it will automatically make each column "Text". As a result, I can't manipulate the data the way I want to. Even right-clicking on the column and choosing "Number" or "General" under "Format Cells" doesn't help.
The only way I can figure to get it into a format which can be manipulated is by clicking on each cell individually and retyping the data. Obviously, if my column has a lot of rows, this can be very time consuming.
Does anyone know of any way I can automatically get the cells to be in a format that can be easily manipulated?
Thanks,
mike.