How to suppress leading zeros in Excel

I recieve a spreadsheet that has phone stored as a 10 digit number. I need
to parse it to end up with 3 columns; AreaCode, Exchange, Extension. I use
Text to Columns to split this. The problem I have is that leading zeros are
suppressed. For example if an extension is 0040 the leading zeros are
suppressed and it is displayed as 40. How can I make sure it is always
displayed as a 4 digit number?

Format>Cells>Number tab, Custom. In the Type box, enter 0000

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Kind regards,

Niek Otten

Microsoft MVP - Excel

"Jay" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I recieve a spreadsheet that has phone stored as a 10 digit number. I need
> to parse it to end up with 3 columns; AreaCode, Exchange, Extension. I
> use
> Text to Columns to split this. The problem I have is that leading zeros
> are
> suppressed. For example if an extension is 0040 the leading zeros are
> suppressed and it is displayed as 40. How can I make sure it is always
> displayed as a 4 digit number?

Make the format of the field Text instead of General (when you do your data|Text
to columns).

Jay wrote:
>
> I recieve a spreadsheet that has phone stored as a 10 digit number. I need
> to parse it to end up with 3 columns; AreaCode, Exchange, Extension. I use
> Text to Columns to split this. The problem I have is that leading zeros are
> suppressed. For example if an extension is 0040 the leading zeros are
> suppressed and it is displayed as 40. How can I make sure it is always
> displayed as a 4 digit number?

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Dave Peterson