Calculated values too large to fit into the cell are displayed in scientific notation.

When I enter a number like 8230e12 into a Microsoft Excel 2000 cell, Excel changes the number I entered into 8230000000000000. (This is what I get when I press F2 to edit the cell's contents, not what Excel displays in the cell). How can I force Excel to keep the data in the format I typed it and still be able to format it and use it as a number? Displaying the cell in scientific notation is not enough, because the exponent is not the same one as the one I typed.

Chris W. Rea

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asked Sep 1, 2009 at 14:48

If you wish Excel to keep the cell formatted exactly as entered, i.e. 8230e12, regardless of whether you are looking at it or editing it, then this can't be done whilst retaining the ability to treat the cell contents as a number.

The only way I can see round this is to enter your data in cells that are formatted as text, and then have another cell, formatted as some kind of number, that has a formula of =VALUE(A1) or whatever so that calculations can be performed on this cell.

Other than that you are looking at some VBA to manage this, overkill I would have thought.

answered Sep 2, 2009 at 9:37

1

I had success in solving what I think is a similar issue to yours. All I did was create a custom format of "'#" (note the apostrophe before the hash) and applied it to the column containing the numbers that needed to be viewed in their 12+ digit form. My values were still correct though as the columns were initially set to general.

Indrek

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answered May 16, 2012 at 17:31

small3687small3687

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I had this with list of long numbers, about 14000 entered into one column. I highlighted the column, Data -> Text to Columns -> Fixed length -> Don't create any break lines. Clear any that show up -> Select column data format text -> Finish. Worked like a charm.

answered Jan 30, 2013 at 19:58

Format the cell as custom number format and you can tweak the display to whatever you need. E.g. "0000E+12" will display your "8230e12" as "8230E+12"

answered Sep 1, 2009 at 17:30

FoleyIsGoodFoleyIsGood

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Try this ="8230e12". It worked for me just now, after I saw that nothing you guys suggested was useful, gave this a shot.

Marko

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answered Oct 1, 2012 at 15:11

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I had the same issue with a big number that I wanted without the exponent I solved it using Text function from Excel. in vba just do:

Application.WorksheetFunction.Text(Cells(myrow,mycol).Value(), "0")

Change the "0" with the format you need. Voilà :)

answered Nov 28, 2014 at 15:21

2

This Works: 1. Highlight the column 2. Right click "Format Cells..." 3. From the number Tab, Select Category=Number and ensure Decimal Place is set to Zero (unless you have decimal values in the cell content) 4. OK

answered Mar 26, 2015 at 16:21

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As @FoleyIsGood commented: Instead of inputting it with "e" notation, write it out explicitly: = 8230 * 10^12.

answered Apr 3, 2016 at 1:43

4

Put a " ' " before the number, then add a helper column that does Right(cell you typed in,len(cell you typed in). This will put it back in full

answered Aug 3, 2016 at 15:35

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I resolved the issue by using =IF(MID(B31,6,1)="E","Y","N") to identify where the Exponential lies (represented by the "E") and then replacing the E with "#" using =REPLACE(B31,6,1,"#").

Cas

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answered Jan 10, 2018 at 10:17

1. Highlight the range of cells or column
2. Click Custom format
3. Look for question marks like: "??/??"
4. Click Enter

random♦

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answered Nov 29, 2013 at 17:09

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