Treating plus and minus signs as text

[Ross Langmead]

I'd like entries such as the following set, one in each cell: 3, 6+1, 7-2, +4. It is to indicate insulin injected at regular doses (standard numbers) and corrections made (with + or -).

First, 7-2 becomes 7 February (Australian dates), but I can work around it with an en dash (Option+Hyphen).

But with a general cell setting the plus sign disappears. With a custom number setting, such as +#0;-#0;#0 an ordinary 7 becomes +7 and a 6+2 is not recognised as a valid entry.

Does Excel have a setting for "Leave as entered", or does it insist on changing things?

[DonkeyOte]

Welcome to the Board.

Format the range into which you are entering values as Text before entering the values else precede with ' when entering.

(XL is essentially trying to be "helpful" by interpreting your entry and adjusting accordingly)