Thanks Chuck, I had tried CUSTOMising but Ron gave me the right clue but it
only works without the " " quotes.
Cheers,
Bob.

"CLR" wrote:

A "number" with a leading zero IS text, not a real number. Entering it as
TextFormat will preserve it's state. If you want to enter a "real number"
and make it look like it has a leading zero, that can be done with Custom
Formatting.

hth
Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3



"bobl3517" wrote:

see subject. I am using Office 2003 and wish to log series of 3 - 5 digit
serial numbers and also record similar numbers in randonm order but excel
persists in deleting leading zeros unless I enter the figures as as text.
Thanks.