# Excel 2000 and 2003 - 9.16419E+11



## Shimmy69 (Nov 16, 2010)

Having an issue with Excel changing a 12 digit number to 9.16419E+11, the 12 digit number is for a Lan Fax device. It seems I can get the number to change by either placing a ' at the beging of the entry, but this would then not allow the Fax to recognize the number, or placing the cursor at the end of the text entry box and pressing the enter key, but it appears that no matter what we do, the saves are not changed as the next time we open the document the number has changed back to 9.16419E+11.

Thanks in advance

Jim


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## Elkar (Mar 17, 2008)

Try formatting the cell as TEXT before entering the data into it.


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## macropod (Apr 11, 2008)

Hi Jim,

A simple way is to change the cell's number format to 'Text' before inputting the numbers.

Alternatively, for both cells that already have numbers and future data entry, use a custom number format consisting of 12 zeros (ie '000000000000') or even a custom format that includes both the 12 zeros and whatever brackets, spaces etc make the numbers more readable (eg '(00) 00 0000 0000')


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## Shimmy69 (Nov 16, 2010)

Thanks for the replies...I've changed the cells to text, but after saving and exiting the file, when we have opened it back up those cells have been switched back.

Basically the CSV file is being created by an Addressbook application, we add\remove and edit the information with the application versus making changes directly to the file. My thoughts now are something in that application is changing the formating of the cells to 'general'.

Seems odd to me that Excel functions in this way, I was hoping there was a SP I was missing.

Thanks again!
Shimmy


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## macropod (Apr 11, 2008)

Hi Jim,

It would have been helpful had you mentioned working with CSV files at the outset, since what you're now describing has nothing to do with data entry and Excel files, per se, but with Excel's importation of text files. When saving to CSV, any custom formats are lost - only the underlying data are preserved. So, if that's what you're working with, you'll need to re-apply the custom format I mentioned after opening the file. Either that, or you could write a macro to open the file and parse each line with the format you require.


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