| title | description | author | manager | localization_priority | search.appverid | audience | ms.topic | ms.custom | ms.author | appliesto | ms.date | |||||
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Long numbers are displayed incorrectly in Excel |
Describes how to show long numbers in Excel cells. |
helenclu |
dcscontentpm |
Normal |
|
ITPro |
troubleshooting |
|
luche |
|
03/31/2022 |
After you enter a long number (such as a credit card number) in an Excel cell, the number is not displayed correctly in Excel. For example,
:::image type="content" source="media/long-numbers-incorrectly-in-excel/example-for-long-number-not-showing-correctly-in-excel.png" alt-text="An example for a long number that's not shown correctly in Excel.":::
Note
Default number format in Excel is General therefore you can display up to 11 digits in a cell.
To work around this issue, use one of the following methods.
To do this, follow these steps:
-
Right-click target cell, and then click Format Cells.
:::image type="content" source="media/long-numbers-incorrectly-in-excel/format-cells.png" alt-text="Format a cell as text by selecting the Format Cells.":::
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On the Number tab, select Text, and then click OK.
:::image type="content" source="media/long-numbers-incorrectly-in-excel/text-option-under-number.png" alt-text="Select the Text under the Number tab in the Format Cells dialog box." border="false":::
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Then type a long number. (Be sure to set the cell format before you type the number)
:::image type="content" source="media/long-numbers-incorrectly-in-excel/a-long-number.png" alt-text="Type a long number.":::
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If you do not want to see the warning arrows, click the small arrow, and then click Ignore Error.
:::image type="content" source="media/long-numbers-incorrectly-in-excel/ignore-error.png" alt-text="Select Ignore Error if you don't want to see the warning arrows.":::
:::image type="content" source="media/long-numbers-incorrectly-in-excel/result-of-method-1.png" alt-text="The result of method 1.":::
When you enter a long number, type a single quotation mark (') first in the cell, and then type the long number.
For example, type '1234567890123456789 and the quotation mark will not be displayed after you press ENTER.
:::image type="content" source="media/long-numbers-incorrectly-in-excel/type-quotation-mark.png" alt-text="Add a single-quotation mark before typing a long number.":::
Format numbers as text in Excel for Mac
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