Number stored as text

Hi Guys - I am currently using the formula below but when I c and p special > values it pastes as text. Therefore, when i convert to a numbner i am back to square one!!!

=if(left(s2)="0",s2,0&s2)

I would like the 0 to stay and the field be stored as a number!

If i ignore error and format cells as number is this the same?

Any ideas ?

Thanks

Hi

Is it because Excel drops the leading 0 from numbers?
If so, just format your column as Custom>000000
using as many zero's as you wish to have the length of your number

123 would show as 000123 in the example above

Hi R - thanks mate, perfect