I have recently created a MS Form from Excel on line to collect water meter readings. I have created formula in the Excel document making use of the data collected in the form. The challenge I am having is that the numbers appear as text (eg. '345 instead of 345) and don't work in my formula unless I manually convert them to numbers (I know I could create another column to automate the conversion, but that is an extra step I would rather avoid).  

The survey questions have been set to capture numbers only.

Is there another setting I am missing somewhere?

Thanks 

Stephen