Want to turn the numbers on your spreadsheets into the proper US phone numbers, with area codes? Instead of manually inserting dashes and parentheses, use Microsoft Excel’s phone number formatting option.
In Excel, there are several ways you can format your data. One of these formats is for US phone numbers, turning your numbers such as “5555551234” into a readable “(555) 555-1234”. You can apply this formatting to multiple phone numbers at once if you want.
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How to apply phone number formatting in Microsoft Excel
To get started, open your spreadsheet with Microsoft Excel.
In your worksheet, select the cell (s) in which you have your phone numbers.
While your phone numbers are highlighted, in the Excel ribbon at the top, click on the “Home” tab.
On the “Home” tab, in the “Number” section, click “Number Format” (an arrow icon) in the lower right corner.
You will see a “Format Cells” window. Here, in the “Category” list on the left, select “Special”.
In the “Type” section on the right, click “Phone Number”. Then click on “OK” at the bottom.
To note: If you don’t see “Phone Number” in the “Type” section, click the “Local” drop-down menu and choose “English (United States)” or another supported country.
Back on your spreadsheet, all of your phone numbers are now formatted in the correct phone number style.
If you want a different format for these numbers, in the “Format Cells” window, select “Custom” and then specify your custom format.
And this is how you turn ordinary digits into phone numbers in Microsoft Excel. Very useful!
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