Spot a number that is secretly text
Excel lines a cell's contents up to tell you what it thinks it has: numbers and dates sit against the right edge, text sits against the left. That alignment is not decoration. It is the clearest signal you get about whether a value will be included in a calculation.
A number that arrived from a website, a PDF or an export often comes in as text. It looks identical. It adds up to nothing. The total below is already written as a formula, so you can watch it correct itself the moment the data does.
One of the three numbers is text, which is why B6 is wrong. Retype that cell so B6 comes to 301.
| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Week | Hours | |||
| 2 | Week 1 | 120 | |||
| 3 | Week 2 | 85 | |||
| 4 | Week 3 | 96 | |||
| 5 | |||||
| 6 | Total | 205 | |||
| 7 | |||||
| 8 |
Click a cell and type. Enter commits, Tab moves right, F2 edits in place, Ctrl+Z undoes. Drag the small square at the corner of a cell to fill. Ctrl+Enter checks your answer.