Excel 2010 - how to prepend a "0" to make an 8 digit number 9 digits

Solution 1:

2 ways of looking at this:

1) You simply want to see the number displaying 9 digits. In this case:

Go to Format Cells > Custom. Under Type, input "000000000" where there used to be "General" to set minimum number of digits displayed = 9

2) You need to verify with the first 4 digits:

To convert the number to a string, use the TEXT() Function:

    Value = 2

TEXT(Value, "00") = 02

To completely solve your question, simply obtain the first four digits by

   =(LEFT(TEXT(Value, "000000000"),4)

Good luck.