number field displays incorrect characters

[aorrow]

Dear members,

 

I have started to have odd characters appearing in a number field. The characters can be seen only when the field is viewed when unselected. The correct characters can be seen when the field is selected. Same appearance when viewed in Preview mode as well.

 

The field in question is a number field for telephone numbers. the strange characters which appear look like this in every field 7.9569e+09. If I remove the last digit of the phone number the field returns to normal. The field is of type number and does not have any other options associated with it?

 

I am confused as to why this has just appeared,

thanks for any help

[AHunter3]

Sounds like your field is formatted as a number. Most folks format a telephone "number" field as text, because it will contain dashes and parentheses or perhaps start with a 0, etc.

 

Only the characters 0-9 truly belong in a number field.

 

If your field was a text field, it would display the characters as entered and not try to simply matters for you by showing large numbers in scientific notation.

 

If you still wish to continue to use your field as a number field, and have your number display as 20130140506543210, not as 2.013e+16, go into Layout Mode, Format, Number, switch from General Format to Leave Data Formatted As Entered.

[aorrow]

Many thanks again AHunter3, very pleased to have this resolved.

 

I haver changed the field to text format to make life simpler, and all is back to normal. I must have decided to change from text to number format at some point?