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Excel - The Easiest Way to Add Leading Zeroes to Employee IDs | Custom Formatting - Episode 397

273 views · Published 12 October 2009 · 3:12 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2009 · Education

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Microsoft Excel Tutorial: The Easiest Way to Add Leading Zeroes to Employee IDs | Custom Formatting.

Welcome back to the MrExcel netcast! In this video, we'll be discussing a common issue that many Excel users face - creating employee IDs with leading zeroes. Last week, we had a call-in question from Christian, who was struggling with this problem. We discussed using the zip-code format, but quickly realized that it wouldn't work for IDs with different lengths. Little did I know, there was a much simpler solution that I completely overlooked.

While I was on my trip, I received numerous emails from viewers pointing out my mistake and showing me a much easier way to handle this issue. I want to give a special shoutout to Chad, Derek, Jeffrey, and many others who took the time to share their knowledge with me. Thanks to their help, I can now share this valuable tip with all of you.

So, what's the solution? It's actually quite simple. We can use the zip-code format, but instead of using the default 5-digit code, we can customize it to fit our needs. By going into the Format Cells dialog and choosing the Custom category, we can specify the number of leading zeroes we want. This works for IDs with up to 15 digits, making it a versatile solution for any length of employee ID.

But that's not all - the Custom category can be used in many other situations as well. For example, if you want to display a decimal as a fraction, you can use the Fraction option and then customize it to your desired format. This is especially useful for those of us in Akron, Ohio, where we still talk about 32nds in the tire industry. By using the Custom category, we can easily round decimals to the nearest 32nd of an inch. So, thank you to everyone who reached out and shared this valuable tip with me. I hope this helps you in your Excel endeavors. Don't forget to tune in tomorrow for another Excel 2007 trick!

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Table of Contents:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:19) Question from Christian about employee IDs
(00:36) Realization of mistake and receiving feedback
(00:50) Explanation of better method for handling leading zeroes
(01:06) Using zip-code field for leading zeroes
(01:24) Customizing the format for different number of leading zeroes
(01:56) Modifying built-in formats for fractions
(02:37) Conclusion and thanks to callers
(02:51) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

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A much better way of showing leading zeroes. After episode 392, several listeners called in with a better better way to show leading zeroes for any number of characters. Episode 397 shows you how.

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