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Trying to enter in an 18 digit number in a cell and excel changes the last 4 numbers to zeros

Anonymous
2010-05-20T17:29:26+00:00

I am trying to put in an esn number into excel and it chages to last 4 numbers to zeros.  I want make the number a total of 18 characters long, all numbers.  any help would be appreciated...

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-05-20T19:46:27+00:00

    Here are some of the specification for Excel, the first is the one impacting you: (You can enter longer number as text by preceeding them with an ' apostrophy or formatting the cell to Text before entering them.

    Calculation specifications and limits

    Feature Maximum limit
    Number precision 15 digits
    Smallest allowed negative number -2.2251E-308
    Smallest allowed positive number 2.2251E-308
    Largest allowed positive number 9.99999999999999E+307
    Largest allowed negative number -9.99999999999999E+307
    Largest allowed positive number via formula 1.7976931348623158e+308
    Largest allowed negative number via formula -1.7976931348623158e+308
    Length of formula contents 8,192 characters
    Internal length of formula 16,384 bytes
    Iterations 32,767
    Worksheet arrays Limited by available memory
    Selected ranges 2,048
    Arguments in a function 255
    Nested levels of functions 64
    User defined function categories 255
    Number of available worksheet functions 341
    Size of the operand stack 1,024
    Cross-worksheet dependency 64,000 worksheets that can refer to other sheets
    Cross-worksheet array formula dependency Limited by available memory
    Area dependency Limited by available memory
    Area dependency per worksheet Limited by available memory
    Dependency on a single cell 4 billion formulas that can depend on a single cell
    Linked cell content length from closed workbooks 32,767
    Earliest date allowed for calculation January 1, 1900 (January 1, 1904, if 1904 date system is used)
    Latest date allowed for calculation December 31, 9999
    Largest amount of time that can be entered 9999:59:59

    If this answer solves your problem, please check Mark as Answered. If this answer helps, please click the Vote as Helpful button. Cheers, Shane Devenshire

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-05-27T21:01:47+00:00

    Work around only for displaying it works:

    Select the column as TEXT. it works fine.

    But for calculation purpose it doesn't make sense!

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-05-20T17:37:15+00:00

    Hi,

    format the cell as a text

    P.S. If any post answers your question, please mark it as the Answer (so it won't keep showing as an open item.)

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-05-20T17:37:57+00:00

    Precede the digits with an apostrophe (single quote)

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-02-17T16:55:19+00:00

    Thank you very much it worked!

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