How do I type a # (01020) in Excel & have the 1st 0 stay?

[Guest]

I am trying to do a spread sheet in Excel that requires me to put in item
numbers that begin with the number 0. However, when I type in the # and hit
enter, the 0 goes away. How do I format the cells to keep the 0?
Thanks!!

 

[Domenic]

Precede the entry with a single quote...

'012345

Or format the cell as 'Text'.

Hope this helps!

 

[Morrigan]

Change to cell to text format

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

Precede the entry with apostrophe ' or format as text, if you always want
the same number of digits you can use a custom format
(format>cells>number>custom)

00000

for 5 digits


--

Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

http://nwexcelsolutions.com

 

[Guest]

Generally, the easiest way is to format the input cells as text:

Select the cells
<Format><Cells><Number tab>
Category: TEXT
Click the [OK] button

OR

If you prefix the entry with an apostrophe ('), Excel will treat the entry
as text.

Does that help?

***********
Regards,
Ron

XL2002, WinXP-Pro

 

[Guest]

You have two options

I. Enter the numbers with an apostrophe at the beginning. This will force
the cell to be text.
Example:
entering '01234 will result in 01234
Actually the cell will equal the text string "01234". "01234" does not
equal 1234.

II. Enter a custom number format using zeros to signifie the number of
digits. This will keep the cell as a number and show leading zeros.
Example:
Using a format of
00000
entering 123 will result in 00123. The value of the cell will equal the
number 123 but will show as with the leading zeros (ie 00123).

I hope this helps.