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Leading Zeros in Excel

Leading zeros cause a common problem in Excel. The 0 or 0s at the beginning disappear. This most often happens in zip codes, part numbers, class numbers, etc. that begin with one or more zeros.

Unless you specify a format, cells use Excel's general formatting. With general formatting Excel treats numbers as numbers and letters as text. (You may notice when you type into the cell, that text is aligned to the left of the cell and numbers are automatically aligned to the right.)

Getting lead zeros is actually very easy. Before you enter the number, you must format the cell, row, or column to the Text format.

• Select the cell, row, or column.
• Click the Format menu and choose Cells.
• Click on Text.
• Click OK.
• Type your number into the cell.
  

This image shows the same number typed into A1, B1, and C1: 00125. A1 is formatted as General. B1 is formatted as Number (with two decimal places) and C1 is formatted as text.

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