Yep this is my second computing question of the day, its just I really need some help cutting down some lag time in my work. Is it possible to pre-format a number of cells in MS excell so that when i put in a number it will automatically surround the number with two stars on each side? Umm, heres an example. I type in 5.00 but I want excel to do this to the number: **5.00** without me typing the four stars in. Is this possible. Also is it possible for excel to write in words what I type as a number so for example 5.00 becomes 'five'? Thanks for your help. I know this might be advanced trickery but any help i will be grateful for

With Excel 2000 or later:

I am nearly sure that the first one can be done with a custom format. I did a custom format for kg e.g. I enter 12 and 12 kg appears, which is a usable number 12 still.

You might have to write a macro for the second task.

Yes it is possible:

1) Select the group of cells that you have.
2) Right click on any of them.
3) Select the "Format Cells" menu item.
4) Make sure you are in the "Number" tab on top of the page that will open.
5) In the "Category" list to the left of the window, see which one of the formatting does it for you.
6) If you are not satisfied with those, click on the "Custom" item at the end of the list and define your own style.

Good luck.

If you want a number like:
**5**, **2.13**, **60.29**

Then right click on a cell, (or a column of cells) and click on the option 'format cells'.

In the number tab, select 'Custom'. This is one of the categories.

Then in the type textbox enter:

"**"#"**"

The stars are enclosed in quotes, and the # is there to say that a number can be inputted.

You could use 0 instead of #.

If you wanted a number like 2.99 then
"**"0.00"**" could be used or "**"0.##"**"

0 must have a number where as # is optional so if it was
"**"0.00"**" and you wanted the number 5 then it would be displayed as '5.00'

The first part of your question is covered by answer 3 above, the second part has been asked recently and can be found at, http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AotAIe.h06VolRGVuQn.m35JBgx.;_ylv=3?qid =20071022101315AAdpO7I
This formula applies to typing a number into one cell and and then writing the number into another cell. If this is not what you are looking for, at least it gives you an idea of how it's done.