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Autofill to form with Mask not working

cappleby 18 Feb, 2019
Hi,

I have a number of forms with a phone number element which has a mask - 99 9999 9999 or 9999 999 999. I need the spaces so Excel recognises this as a text field not an integer so it doesn't strip off the leading zeros. But when someone uses autofill on the phone number the number ends up with a series of underlines and a couple of numbers. e.g. __ ____ _4__. Can anyone suggest a solution to this problem?
healyhatman 18 Feb, 2019
Pretty much just "don't use the input mask". And you don't need the spaces at all, just tell excel that the column should be formatted as text.
cappleby 19 Feb, 2019
Sadly, Excel removes the leading zeroes as soon as you open the csv file.

I've tried putting a note in the form to say include zeroes but people rarely take any notice.

Chris A
healyhatman 19 Feb, 2019
Answer
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24612302/excel-is-stripping-leading-0s-from-csv-files/24612774

If they open it in the wizard they can select the column as text.

Or you could try when you're exporting your data to CSV, save the field as
=0012401589
What exactly are you doing with these CSV files anyway?
cappleby 19 Feb, 2019
1 Likes
I'm exporting the database using the Backup Table button so there's no option of adding an = before exporting. The output is then used to update a membership list so there are lots of iterations as membership renewals arrive.

Looks like the import wizard is the best choice.
cappleby 19 Feb, 2019
Also my original query was really about the autofill not filling properly where the mask is. So I get ____ ___ 7__ in the form instead of 0400 000 007 for example.
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