I am formatting  cells as text  and then entering  digits separated by
colons or dashes which causes the format  to automatically  being
changed
to a date  display - naughty Excel 2000! Any tips on how I can put a
stop to this?

You can start each string with an apostrophe. This works, but you need to
remember to do it.

Also 1. to disable digits  entered in brackets being converted to being
-
ve.


Also 2. as I have not converted from Lotus 123, I would like to
disable
Excels default  123 help behaviour when I enter a forward slash.

The setting for this is on Tools/Options/Transition tab

It's all rather tedious having to enter a single quote before my
entries to tell the app. to take it as literal.

Agreed! Excel can sometimes be too clever for its own good.

Any help would be gratefully received.