It doesn't matter if you start with a 0 (zero) or not because it will be retained. Since this is just text, you don't need a special number format for it. Some zip/postal codes include text, like the ever confusing British system, which can look like this: Custom number formatting can be really confusing and it feels like another language you have to learn. I suggest playing around with this example until you get what you are looking for and then keep that custom number format safe somewhere. Once you hit OK, this is the final result: Then, we enter a custom number format under where it says Type: Go to the Number tab and select Custom from the Category section. Right-click the desired cell and click Format Cells. For this, we must add a custom number format. Let's say that we want to add the country code to the number so it would now be like this:Īlso, we don't want parenthesis. Now, Excel only has a few default options for special number formatting and this is quite limiting (they should have just programmed-in tons of them) BUT, we have custom number formatting that allows us to do this. So, when you double-click the cell, you will still see just the numbers.īut, this doesn't work for every way to enter a phone number and this is where custom formats come in handy, so keep reading. If you look to the Formula Bar though (same as double-clicking the cell to edit it) you will see that this formatting has not been added to the contents of the cell, just its output. Then, go to the Number tab, select Special from the Category section and then select Phone Number from the Type section and hit OK. Right-click the cell and select Format Cells We can use a number format in Excel to automatically add the dashes for us. Most people don't take the time to input dashes when they type a number. If we enter it into Excel, it might look like this: Just like the above example, we can add a number format to the cell to make phone numbers appear correctly or at least in a way that is easier to read.
You can see this in the above image when you look to the Formula Bar and see only 1234. Note, however, that when you edit the cell, there is no leading zero it will only appear in the spreadsheet when you are not editing the cell. Then, go to the Number tab, select Special from the Category section and then select Zip Code from the Type section and hit OK. Right-click the cell and select Format Cells. To make this zip code display correctly we must change the formatting for the cell. This is a good example because, when we put it into Excel, it will end up like this: We need to add a special number format to a cell in Excel to display some postal codes correctly. Other Tricks Displaying Zip/Postal Codes in Excel
#US ZIP CODE FORMAT DOWNLOAD#
(make sure to download the sample workbook so you can follow along) Display numbers in Excel as zip/postal codes and phone numbers in order to make them easier to read and retain any leading zeros if they exist.