Automatic Data Conversion” settings have dissapeared

Question

I had the “Automatic Data Conversion” settings before. It allowed you to disable the removal of leading zeros, displaying long numbers as scientific notation, converting letters and numbers to dates, etc. I can no longer find this section. How to get the settings back? I tried reversing Office 365 versions but it's no longer visible in Options

Answer 1

Hello @Emir Pearson,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A Forum and thank you for your question. 

 

Based on your description, I understand that the “Automatic Data Conversion” setting is missing from your Excel application. To help troubleshoot this issue, please try the steps below: 

First, please repair your Office installation. Right‑click the Start button in the lower‑left corner of your screen and choose Installed apps.  

Find your Microsoft 365 or Office product, click the ellipsis (…), and select Modify.  

You will see two options:   

• Quick Repair: This runs quickly and fixes most common issues. Try this first.   
• Online Repair: This is a more thorough repair that requires an internet connection. It essentially re-downloads parts of the installation. If Quick Repair doesn't work, use this option.   

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the repair process. After it's done, restart your computer and try opening Excel again.   

Here is the reference: Repair an Office application - Microsoft Support   

If the repair process does not restore the missing setting, please try re‑generating the Office registry key. Please note that modifying the registry can affect your system, so it is recommended that you back up the key before making any changes.

Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and select OK to open the Registry Editor.  

Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0 

Rename the 16.0 folder to 16.0-old, then restart your PC. After the restart, open Excel, sign in with your Microsoft 365 account, and check whether the “Automatic Data Conversion” section has reappeared. 

If you encounter any difficulties while performing these steps, please let me know, I will be happy to continue assisting you. 

Please understand that our initial response does not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution. 

Kind regard

---

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.