I have an Excel formula reading data from a column. The data in that column is sometimes a date-like format, such as "10-11". Despite the fact that I've ensured that column is text formatted -- and all values display correctly as plain text, not reinterpreted as dates -- the formula is basically reinterpreting them as dates in the reference.
I need a way to force the formula's cell reference to interpret the cell as text. I tried TEXT(A1, "@") but it doesn't work -- it gives the numeric value of the date.