I am assuming the stock number is in column A and the data begins on line 2
In a new column use the formula
=text(if(len(A1<8,"00"&A1,if(len(A1<9,"0"&A1,A1)))

"PSKelligan" wrote:

I must make the changes after export. I am unable to access the database via
dynamic query. There are pre-defined views that I can use and no flexibility
as this dbate is no my product.

I export through a web interface and I want to clean up the data in excel
befor importing it into an Access database. the length of the field is 9
characters. All numeric and all with 1 or 2 leading zeros.

Any idea on how to update the formatting of the cells?

thanks,

Patrick