I'm a data entry clerk who works with UPC codes a lot. I'm trying to import
an Excel spreadsheet table into Access to check it against our database for
missing items, but I find that an error/problem at the Excel level is keeping
me from doing this.

The problem is that the data from a certain company is being given to us
with spaces after the first, sixth and eleventh digits--probably to avoid
this very problem that I'm having. When you take out the spaces manually,
the entry reverts to scientific notation. Even after formatting the cells
both before or after the spaces are taken out does the data come out as
scientific notation.

The most ironic thing is that this only happens with 12 digit numbers (which
most UPC codes are). In cases where there's a 0 at the beginning of the
12-digit UPC code, the number is reduced to 11 digits--but is in numeral
form, not scientific notation form. This leads me to conclude that there's
some trigger that's being turned on at the 12-digit or character mark that's
causing the number to automatically switch into scientific mode.

How do I turn this off? Please keep in mind that I'm a data entry clerk,
not a computer programmer or code generator, so if the solution involves
monkeying around with code, can you please explain very slowly? Like you
would to a high school senior?