You can follow any one of these methods below to convert numbers stored as text to numbers in Microsoft Excel: Using the Text to column button Using Value function Changing the format Use Paste ...

Microsoft Excel depends on data that’s stored correctly. If you receive text values that should be real numbers, use one of these methods to get you back to the real work.

When you type a seven-or-ten-digit phone number into an Excel cell that uses the phone number format, Excel will automatically change the way the number looks so that it appears as a phone number.

Similarly, it's easy to forget to type the currency symbol when you're focusing on the numbers that follow, so using Excel's built-in number format converter is the way forward.

How to Change to Accounting Format in Excel. The accounting format in Microsoft Excel 2010 is very similar to the currency format---both display the currency symbol next to every number.