Handle Excel that does not recognize fast - standard number formats

What is Excel not recognizing the number format? How to fix it? Instructions for fixing number format errors in Excel.

Entering numeric data in Excel is a basic and familiar task. However, some users encounter the error that Excel no longer recognizes number formats , making their work impossible to complete. Therefore, in the following article TipsMake will guide you to fix the error of not being able to type numbers in Excel. Let's get started!

This article is based on a laptop operating system Windows 11 Excel 2016 version. Other versions perform the same operation.

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Why doesn't Excel recognize the number format? 

In Excel, the error of not being able to format numbers in Excel often has the following causes: 

1. Data in cells can contain non-numeric characters, letters, spaces, and special characters. How to fix: use the CLEAN formula to remove unwanted characters and then use the VALUE formula to convert the data to numbers.
2. The cell's format may have been set to 'Text' instead of 'Number'. How to fix: To fix, select the cell or range of cells, then select the 'Home' tab on the toolbar, select 'Number' in the 'Number' group, and select the desired number format.
3. The data in the cell may be corrupted or malformed. Solution: recheck the data in the cell and make sure it is in the correct numeric format. If necessary, edit the data to ensure accuracy.
4. There may be an error in the formula or function used in the cell. How to fix: Recheck the formula or function and make sure it is written correctly and applied correctly to the input data

Note: Errors when entering numbers in Excel are often due to cell formatting. Some of them are due to: Excel's data acceptance permissions, invalid language control panel, or no access rights.

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Following are instructions for quickly editing number formats in Excel, illustrated in detail. 

Instructions to fix the error of not formatting numbers in Excel

The fastest way to format numbers for data in Excel

Directly convert the area you want to perform number formatting to the number format. To return the data area to digital format, we do the following steps: 

1. Step 1 : Highlight the data area that needs to be formatted. 
2. Step 2 : Right click and select FormatCells . 
3. Step 3 : The conversion operation is performed in the Format Cells dialog box

Click on the Number tab and make some custom items according to your working needs: 

1. Sample : an example result displayed in the cell. 
2. Decimal place : value after the comma separating the decimal part. 
3. Uncheck the Use 1000 Speparator(,) box: thousandth separator. 
4. Negative number : display type of negative number

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Click OK to finish the command. 

This method applies to numerical data that is not too much so you can find errors to correct manually. With large data, you can process it in 2 ways for more convenience. 

Method 2: Fix number format error in Excel 

There are 2 ways to locate the error of Excel not recognizing number format: 

Method 1: Determine with the AutoFilter tool (filter)

With this method, you need to pay attention to how to detect the error of not being able to type numbers in Excel using AutoFilter . 

This is a familiar and extremely powerful filter in Excel.

1. Select the entire data area > Data tab > Sort& Filter group > Filter (funnel icon). 
2. After the selection appears arrows on the data column, Click on the arrows.
3. Non-numeric cells will be placed at the bottom of the list and will not follow any sorting rule such as (ascending).

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Method 2: Manually calculate to determine errors

If you encounter a large amount of incorrect data, you can use some calculation method to try to calculate it. If the calculation returns #Value! then the data in that cell does not contain errors.

Then, to fix the error that Excel does not recognize the number format specified above, perform the following steps: 

1. Step 1: Return digital data

Highlight the data area that needs to be converted to numeric data, right-click and select Format Cells > Number . 

1. Step 2: Proceed to fix the error

Re-enter the numbers for the previously identified error cells.

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TipsMake hopes this post has provided you with enough information to quickly fix Excel not recognizing number formats error!

Lesley Montoya

Update 09 December 2023