How to stop spreadsheet from automatic rounding off of numbers?

[DIPPITY]

Yeah, so I don't know why all of a sudden my spreadsheets are automatically rounding off numbers. I've made up 2 new profit & loss sheets in the past week & this rounding off thing just started last night on both sheets. Maybe I hit a function I shouldn't have? In any case I need it to stop! I have excel 2013. Anyone?

[MrShorty]

We might need more information about exactly what it means that Excel is "automatically rounding off numbers". It sounds like something like Precision as displayed or fixed decimal entry or something like that got changed in Excel Options.

[DIPPITY]

These records are for small business keeping & I've created my own spreadsheets. As an example when I enter the number $4.85 & move out of the column it automatically changes to $5. Similar to when I enter a date as 3/5/17 it will automatically change to 3/5/2017. Hope that helps make it clearer.

[MrShorty]

Is Excel actually changing the data, or is it displaying the data according the cell's number format. Entering 4.85 into a cell formatted as $0 (integer dollar) will display as $5, but the underlying value in the cell is still 4.85. When you enter a date (like 3/5/17) into an unformatted cell, Excel may default to a m/d/yyyy type format (and assume the year is after 2000), but the underlying value is still 42799 (the serial number for 5 March 2017).

At this point, we need to know if it is a formatting issue (and you want to change the format) or if Excel is really changing the value to something other than what you entered.

[DIPPITY]

Again, thanks for your speedy reply! And the answer is....I have no idea Reason is it didn't do this in the beginning when I first created the spreadsheet. So how about we start by trying the easiest, would that be to change the formatting? ; of which I would need your guidance. Thank you Mr Guru

[MrShorty]

Checking formatting is as easy as any place to start. Press ctrl-1 to bring up the number format dialog (or go to the Home tab -> number format section). What number format is listed? Can you change the number format to General? If you change the number format to General, and the cell value remains 5 (you might even look in the formula bar to verify), then Excel changed the value. If you can now see the 4.85, then the cell value is unchanged, and you can go back into the number format dialog and select the desired format you want to see.

[DIPPITY]

Ok, I had to go into General & it did change it back. Hope it stays that way! Great job in helping me. Now how do I mark this as solved?

[MrShorty]

To mark as solved, go to the menu under the thread title, find "Thread Tools" dropdown, then select mark as solved.

If you leave the cell formatted as general, you leave yourself open to Excel automatically changing the formatting on you again (this is probably what happened before). When you enter a scientific number (1.0E+0) into a cell formatted as general, Excel will change the format to scientific. If you enter certain financial functions into a cell marked general, Excel will automatically format as currency (usually with 2 decimal places). If you are concerned or bothered that Excel might change the format, then you will want to consider the values you are planning to enter and how you want them displayed, and format the cell accordingly.

[DIPPITY]

Ok just great, well no wonder my middle name is "Frustrated"! At least now I know I may go crazy soon. Thank you seriously for everything. Have a great day.