Set cell category to Text, and numbers will work either as text or as numbers: Depending on what?

edit

• Set some cells format to category Text.
• Type in some numbers.
• In another cell with category set to Number, use references to these cells to make some calculation (e.g. =A1+A2, or =ABS(A1)) and you will get a numeric answer; but you will get 0 with =SUM(A1:A2).

Text numbers¹ works with: +, -, *, /, ^. The same goes for cells with category set to Number if ' (apostrophe) is placed in front of each number.

What kind of functions does it not work with? There is some list?

I am with LibreOffice 6.4.7.2 (x86); OS: Windows 6.1. Thanks.

¹ If you have already entered normal numbers in cells and have afterwards changed the format of the cells to "Text", the numbers will remain normal numbers. They will not be converted. Only numbers entered afterwards, or numbers which are then edited, will become text numbers. (Formatting Numbers as Text).