The =TEXT() function is used to convert a value to text in a format you specify. So if you ever run into issues with Excel expressing data formats other than what you prefer, the =TEXT() function is here to the rescue!

Below is an image showing 12 ways you can use the TEXT function to re-express the data into the format you like. For a list of more pre-assigned text formats recognized by Excel, you can check the Custom Number Formatting options (right-click a cell, click “Format cell”, and under the Number tab go to “Custom”) available in the cell formatting dialog box: