A number that is formatted as text will be left-aligned instead of right-aligned, this makes it easier for you to spot numbers that have been incorrectly formatted as text values.

The first example shows how Excel shows a number formatted as a number. The number is aligned to the right whereas numbers formatted as text are aligned to the left in the cell.

Method 1

Instructions:

1. Select a cell
2. Type '
3. Type the number
4. Press Enter

This example is shown in the second row in the image above.

Method 2

Instructions:

1. Select a cell
2. Type ="number"
3. Press Enter

The number is the number you want to be formatted as text. This example is shown in the third row in the image above.

Method 3

Instructions:

1. Select a cell
2. Type the number
3. Press Enter
4. Press CTRL + 1 to open the "Format Cells" dialog box.
5. Make sure you are on tab "Number".
6. Select Category: "Text".
7. Press with left mouse button on OK button.

Number incorrectly formatted as a text value

A green arrow appears in the upper left corner of the cell if Excel believes you have a number in your worksheet that was formatted incorrectly as text.

Press with left mouse button on the exclamation button and an options menu appears.

This lets you quickly deal with the problem:

If you have multiple values checked as errors you can easily remove the green arrows by selecting the cells containing the error arrow. Then press with left mouse button on the "Exclamation mark" button and lastly press with left mouse button on "Ignore error".