It is possible that your import is over-riding the text formatting.

After importing, select the cells (or rows or columns) then:
Format Cells Custom 000000000

This format will always display all nine digits and retain all leading zeros.
--
Gary's Student


"LeePotts" wrote:

I am importing data into Excel from an online database. The values I am
importing are 9 digit numbers and many contain a zero as the leftmost digit.
Whenerver I copy the data into excel it drops any leading zeros even though
I've formatted that column as text. How can I get Excel to retain the
original number format?