Losing numbers

I am trying to type in a 20-digit number and when I press enter, the last 5
digits turn into zeros. How can I keep all the numbers that I entered without
them automatically turning to zeros?

Format the cell as text and then enter the nuimber
or
Prefix ' and then your number on each cell

"rydog" <rydog@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9A886E33-EDD2-43DE-A919-CDAB11E66D3F@microsoft.com...
>I am trying to type in a 20-digit number and when I press enter, the last 5
> digits turn into zeros. How can I keep all the numbers that I entered
> without
> them automatically turning to zeros?

You can't unless you make it text, either format the cells as text and then
type the numbers or precede the entries with an apostrophe
Look in help for specifications and you'll see that excel has a 15 digit
precision
Normally you don't need such numbesr to make calculations with (if you do
there are special math programs) thus using text to display numbers like
these or credit card numbers should be OK


Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

"rydog" wrote:

> I am trying to type in a 20-digit number and when I press enter, the last 5
> digits turn into zeros. How can I keep all the numbers that I entered without
> them automatically turning to zeros?