Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Adding Leading Zeroes to ZIP Codes.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 28, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
When you import ZIP Codes from a text file into an Excel workbook, it is not uncommon for Excel to translate the values as numbers rather than as ZIP Codes. This results in leading zeroes being dropped from the ZIP Codes, which can obviously cause problems later using the data for its intended purpose.
One solution, of course, is to simply change the display format used for ZIP Code cells. This may work for the display, but the underlying data is still missing the leading zeroes. A better solution is to use a macro that goes through and adds leading zeroes to the information in a cell. The following macro does just that:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here:
Sub MakeZIPText()
Dim ThisCell As Range
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
'Make sure format is text
Selection.NumberFormat = "@"
For Each ThisCell In Selection
'Strip the leading apostrophe, if any
If Left(ThisCell, 1) = "'" Then
ThisCell = Mid(ThisCell, 2, 99)
End If
'It's a 5-digit ZIP Code
If Len(ThisCell) <= 5 Then
ThisCell = "'" & Right("00000" & ThisCell, 5)
Else
ThisCell = "'" & Right("00000" & ThisCell, 10)
End If
Next ThisCell
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
To use the macro, simply select the range of cells containing the ZIP Codes, then run the macro. The macro actually changes the cell contents—no longer will the cells contain numeric values (the cause of the original problem), but they will contain text values. This allows the leading zeroes to appear at the beginning of the ZIP Codes.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2598) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Adding Leading Zeroes to ZIP Codes.
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