What does apostrophe in formula bar mean?
Posted by A.R. on July 10, 2001 12:49 PM
I received an Excel file and I notice in the formula bar that there are apostrophes before the number in the Formula (Ex.: 5), even though in the cells the apostrophe are not displayed. What does that mean? The Format Cells shows Number listed under General.
Posted by Eric on July 10, 2001 1:10 PM
It means "left justify" but also...
I routinely use the apostrophe to indicate that I want a number or formula to be treated as text.
Posted by Mark W. on July 10, 2001 1:11 PM
It's a way to force numbers to be treated as text
by Excel. This "feature" was introduced into
Excel long before the advent of the Text format
that is now widely used.
