By: Amelie

Unfortunately none of these methods works for me. I have a list of article numbers. They come in lots of different ways (different lengths, only numbers, only letters, numbers+letters, some with an a - or a . or a / somewhere,... So there is no predefined special format applicable for all references. Some are preceded by a 0 (or more 0s). I need to use vertical lookup function to link tables. When I copy a cell or the column, the leading 0 is still showed in the copied cell(s). But with every action I do in excel, the leading 0 disappears. Even when I just make the cell format as "text", the 0 still disappears. So I don't want to add a 0, I just want to keep those that are there. The list is also to long to add a ' in front of each number. Note: When I click on a cell with a leading 0 visible in the cell, the formula bar doesn't show that leading 0. How to resolve?