I use MS Office 2010. While using Excel, whenever I type 1 A, 2 A, 3 A up to 12 A and move to next cell by hitting Tab or Enter key it automatically becomes 1:00 AM, 2:00 AM.....12:00 AM. This problem is not there when I type 13 A, it is only up to 12 A.
The same problem is there when I type 1 P, 2 P up to 12 P. It becomes 1:00 PM, 2:00 PM.......12:00 PM. There is no problem for numbers larger than 12.
Why this happens ? How can I stop this ?
It's because it's using the default formatting and detecting a time.
Before entering the data, select the cells then change the formatting to text (right click the cells and choose "Format...").
Excel is changing what you type "1 A" to "1:00 AM" because the programmers believe that most people would want the time if they put "1 A" into a cell. So entries between 1 and 12 with an A or P gets converted into a time.
To stop this, you can either disable auto-correct (I will need to look up the commands), or you can format the cell as text before you enter the data.
Added:
It may also be possible to undo the auto-correct by pressing Ctrl-z.
