# Leading Zero on mobile number
**URL:** https://community.parabola.io/t/leading-zero-on-mobile-number/251
**Category:** Ask a question
**Created:** [March 29, 2020, 4:55am UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/leading-zero-on-mobile-number/251 "2020-03-29T04:55:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Amy](https://community.parabola.io/u/Amy)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2020, 4:55am UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/leading-zero-on-mobile-number/251/1 "2020-03-29T04:55:29Z")
I have a mobile number which is a “number” of course… and therefore has a leading 0, this gets removed on conversion of my data… and i’de like to keep it… any ideas ?
---
### Author:  [@andrew](https://community.parabola.io/u/andrew)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/leading-zero-on-mobile-number/251/2 "2020-03-29T20:32:28Z")
Hey @Amy! Sorry to hear you’re running into this issue. When you say it gets removed on “conversion of [your] data,” where is this happening exactly?
A potential fix could be using the `Text Merge` step (see example screenshot below)! This would add a “0” before every number in the column `number`. Does that make sense? Depending on where/how this problem is happening, there might be a better solution, though, so let me know.
---
### Author:  [@Amy](https://community.parabola.io/u/Amy)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/leading-zero-on-mobile-number/251/3 "2020-03-29T20:59:57Z")
I traced it and Parabola has the zero in the data, when it sends it to me I open the file in Excel and the leading Zero vanishes of course… any ideas how i can hang onto that ? Then i cull 90% of the file and import the new row.
---
### Author:  [@Ivan.Arnaudov](https://community.parabola.io/u/Ivan.Arnaudov)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2020, 1:08pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/leading-zero-on-mobile-number/251/4 "2020-03-30T13:08:43Z")
Hi @Amy,
There is an easy way to force Excel to preserve leading zeroes in phone numbers — or other numbers like postal area codes for that matter. You need to prepend an **’** (apostrophe) symbol at the beginning of each cell that contains such data.
Note: the apostrophe symbol will be _invisible_ when the cell is viewed on its own, but it will stay there.
Here is how it looks while I type:
And here is how the apostrophe disappears once I press Enter:
Ivan
---
### Author:  [@Amy](https://community.parabola.io/u/Amy)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/leading-zero-on-mobile-number/251/5 "2020-03-30T18:22:04Z")
I see that would work in typing it into a field… but i want the fix to work auto otheriwse i might as well just type a zero in the database at the end…
when i get the CSV file i open it in Excel… and its open… i then would have to append the ’ to each field… so its actually alot more typing than just adding a 0 in the dbase.
But thanks anyway
---
### Author:  [@Ivan.Arnaudov](https://community.parabola.io/u/Ivan.Arnaudov)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/leading-zero-on-mobile-number/251/6 "2020-03-30T19:01:15Z")
@Amy Sorry, I thought the solution was obvious.
You can automate the operation the way @andrew showed: do a TEXT MERGE operation and prepend with an apostrophe. Then when you open the processed file in Excel, the leading zero should show up.
Ivan
---
### Author:  [@Amy](https://community.parabola.io/u/Amy)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/leading-zero-on-mobile-number/251/7 "2020-03-30T19:26:46Z")
It does now that i understand. Sorry i’m not a programmer. The issue is the data is fully inconsistent, some dumb men inputting 021555… and some 6421555 with 64 as the country code.
---
### Author:  [@Ivan.Arnaudov](https://community.parabola.io/u/Ivan.Arnaudov)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/leading-zero-on-mobile-number/251/8 "2020-03-30T19:46:31Z")
I totally feel your pain, I am currently designing a Parabola flow that requires proper formatting of international phone numbers myself.
Isn’t it viable for you to create formatting conditions for the 4-5 most common types of incorrect entry using FIND/REPLACE operations and flag all the rest as ‘wrong’ so that they can be looked over by hand? It could reduce manual work by a factor of 10 or more.
Here’s what I am doing for instance:
I have a column called PHONE # and numbers from 4 different countries listed there. I’ve noticed the most common issues I have to replace by hand (e.g. missing country code) and I’ve prepared a FIND/REPLACE for each one. In my particular case I benefit from the fact that I know what data to expect and that there are small variations in the errors. Perhaps you could derive a similar list of common input mistakes and compensate?
The ‘professional’ way to do it is use a Regular Expression but it requires a really smart person to write it.
---
### Author:  [@Amy](https://community.parabola.io/u/Amy)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/leading-zero-on-mobile-number/251/9 "2020-03-30T20:00:09Z")
Hubspot doesnt allow selection from a list … i think i just need to write instructions for them and tell them to follow them… it would be easy if it did
---
### Author:  [@brian](https://community.parabola.io/u/brian)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/leading-zero-on-mobile-number/251/10 "2020-04-01T17:05:07Z")
Hey Amy, I want to make sure that you get an answer to this. When you are in Parabola, you could use a Text Merge step to create a new column that contains first, an apostrophe, and then a reference to the column containing the phone number.
That way, you end up with `'0624...` which will keep the 0 when opened in Excel.
---
### Author:  [@Julz\_Hagele](https://community.parabola.io/u/Julz_Hagele)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2025, 9:46pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/leading-zero-on-mobile-number/251/11 "2025-02-05T21:46:29Z")
I have found it helpful to prevent Excel from auto-converting data in the settings options, a popup asks each time if I wish to convert data. You’ll want to search for your MS Excel version’s instructions.