Forum Discussion
Zero in a excel dopcument
I am working in a new excel document. There are numbers that start with zero. That zero does not show after I hit enter to move to the next entry. How do I correct this?
HelloedCourtney​,
Excel removes the leading zero because it treats the entry as a number by default. This is expected Excel behavior, not an error.
Microsoft-supported ways to fix it:
- Format the cells as Text (best for IDs, codes, phone numbers)
Select the column or cells, then Home > Number Format > Text, and re-enter the values. Excel will keep the leading zero.
Microsoft documentation:
Keeping leading zeros and large numbers
https://support.microsoft.com/office/keeping-leading-zeros-and-large-numbers-1bf7b935-36e1-4985-842f-5dfa51f85fe7
- Use a Custom Number Format (to display leading zeros)
Select the cells, press Ctrl+1, choose Number > Custom, and use a format like:
00000
This keeps the value numeric but displays leading zeros.
Microsoft documentation:
Using a custom number format to display leading zeros
https://support.microsoft.com/topic/using-a-custom-number-format-to-display-leading-zeros-a1533c28-afa1-df3c-f338-7c5be4135f6f
- Prefix the value with an apostrophe
Type '0123. Excel stores it as text and shows the leading zero.
Summary:
If the zero is part of an identifier, format the cells as Text before entering data. This is standard Excel behavior according to Microsoft documentation.