How to Prevent Cell Format Changes Automatically in Excel

When we copy something from different sources and paste it into an Excel cell, the cell format changes automatically. To keep this from happening, we can use a few easy tricks. In this article, we will walk you through three easy methods to prevent automatic cell format changes in Excel.

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3 Suitable Ways to Prevent Cell Format Changes Automatically in Excel

1. Use AutoCorrect Options Feature

2. Uncheck Boxes of Auto Formatting

3. Format Cells as Text

Conclusion

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3 Suitable Ways to Prevent Cell Format Changes Automatically in Excel

In this article, we will demonstrate 3 easy ways to prevent automatic cell format changes in Excel. We will use the following dataset for this purpose.

1. Use AutoCorrect Options Feature

In this method, we will use the AutoCorrect option button to prevent automatic cell format changes in Excel. Read the following steps to learn how to do it.

Steps:

First of all, set the format of the cells as you like.

Next, type or copy a website link in the cell.
Once you press Enter, a hyperlink will be added to the text and the cell format will be changed.
To keep the previous cell format, move your cursor over the cell, and you will find a small button on the bottom left corner of the cell.

Then click on that button and select Undo Hyperlink.

As a result, the cell format will change back to the previous format.
To stop automatic cell format changes for all the cells, click on that button again and select Stop Automatically Creating Hyperlinks.

Finally, copy and paste links to other cells and you will find that the cell format changes won’t occur automatically.

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2. Uncheck Boxes of Auto Formatting

In this method, we will uncheck the boxes next to the Autoformatting options to prevent automatic cell format changes in Excel. The steps to do so are discussed in the following section.

Steps:

First, click on the arrow button above the ribbon and select More Commands.

Then go to the Proofing option and select AutoCorrect Options.

As a result, the AutoCorrect pop-up box will appear.
In the box, click on the AutoFormat As You Type tab and then uncheck all the options.
Then click OK.

Now you can copy anything from any source and paste it into any cell but the cell format will remain the same.

3. Format Cells as Text

Now we will pre-format cells as text to keep the original format of the cells in Excel so that cell format changes do not occur automatically. Keep reading to learn how to do it.

Steps:

First of all, select all the cells you want to prevent automatic format changes.
Then press Ctrl + 1 on your keyboard.
As a result, the Format Cells dialogue box will open.
In the dialogue box, select Text and click OK.

Then import or copy-paste anything from any source and you will find that the cell format will not change automatically.

Notes

The first method only works for website links.
You can use the last two methods for all kinds of data.

Conclusion

Thanks for making it this far. I hope you find this article useful. Now you know three easy ways to prevent automatic cell format changes in Excel. Please let us know if you have any further queries, and feel free to give us any recommendations in the comment section below.