I've tried all manner of formatting options but none seem to help my
particular problem. Custom 00000000 would be superb but when I format cells
to this, save the file and reopen it the format has switched to Greek ? Is
there a fix for this ?

What I need is an eight digit number in each cell in the column. This number
is made up of a date code such as 011106 for 1st November 2006 followed by 2
further digits to denote sequential production up to 99 entries per day so
the first entry for the above date would be 01110601. I then use a simple
=A1+1 in the cell below copied and pasted for all cells relevant to that date
giving me a column adding by one at each step. That works fine for dates
where the day is 10 or above but if it has a leading zero it falls over if
formatted as a number. If formatted as text the simple formula doesn't work.

I need to be able to save the excel file and use the data when merging to: a
sheet as a test report then to labels, then to a delivery note so you can see
why having all the data entered just once on my spreadsheet really helps (if
it works that is)