zero as leading digit

[Lynda]

How can I get Excel to accept a zero as the first digit
in a string (an ID number) without formating the cell as
text?

 

[Ozzie]

format / number / custom in "type" enter a zero for each
character in the ID number. For a 7 number ID, enter
0000000, for 5 enter 00000, for 3 enter 000...

have fun

 

[Dave Peterson]

start with an apostrophe '01234

How can I get Excel to accept a zero as the first digit
in a string (an ID number) without formating the cell as
text?

 

[KAB1400]

Format
Cells
Custom
In the "Type" window enter
0,000.00 (the number of "0"'s can be varied to what you need)
ok

formatting the cell with "0"'s instead of "#"'s will show the leading
zero's.
using a ' before the number will make it text

 

[Myrna Larson]

But that, in effect, forces the data type to text. If he wants to use this as a number in other
formulas, formatting is the best approach.

 

[Dave Peterson]

Yeah, but...

The OP didn't want to format the cell as text, but still was ok treating the
value (an ID number) as a string.

I kind of got the impression that the poster wanted a quicker way to do data
entry than formatting the cell as text each time.

(But if that's the case and the id numbers go in a single column, the OP could
just format the whole column as text and never have to worry.)