Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Microsoft Office Excel 2003

May 16, 2010 2:16AM PDT

When typing numbers into a cell, how do I get zeros to show up when they come BEFORE the first number example: 00059432183? Trying to add student numbers to excel but only 59432183 shows up as it eliminated the first zeros.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Re: formatting
May 16, 2010 6:40AM PDT

Two ways to do this:
1. Enter it as a text field (start with a single quote: ')
2. Give this cell (column) a custom numeric format including the zeroes. That's something like 00000000000 if you want to show 10 digits.

Both ways, by the way, should be covered in any basic course about Excel. Assuming it's for your work, why not ask your boss to pay for such a course? It should enhance your productivity with this useful tool.
If you're a student, see if the school offers some course about using Excel that you can follow.

Kees

- Collapse -
(NT) Thanks Kees.
May 16, 2010 1:04PM PDT
- Collapse -
CNET's online courses
Jun 20, 2010 2:58AM PDT

Kees - this has nothing to do with the thread I picked up your contact particulars from, but has everything to do with the forum's name. I am coming back to CNET discussion forums after some three years gap, and am surprised to find that CNET's online courses have been given the boot. These courses were excellent, and one had the option of accessing course material long after the course was completed. May I know whether CNET plans to re-introduce these courses?

Krish

- Collapse -
Not Kees, but
Jun 20, 2010 8:30PM PDT

me!

Sadly those courses ended some years ago. There are no plans as far as I know to reintroduce them.

Mark

- Collapse -
(NT) Thanks, Mark
Jun 25, 2010 3:25AM PDT