Either use that apostrophe, or pre-format the cell(s) as Text.
The nature of the beast.
Bob Umlas
Excel MVP

"crankyhank" wrote in message
...
When entering a part number such as 419E1 the cell defaults to scientific
and
displays - 4190 - unless I use a ' before this kind of part number.
If I
re-enter a normal number after that, the cell remains in the scientific
mode.