[libreoffice-users] Big decimal numbers as text

I'm having a problem, once again, for copy and paste from US Bank 
downloads into my spreadsheet which was initially created in Excel 5 or 
so. It's running on Ubuntu which I was just told needs a newer version 
than the dot 10 that I'm running. Interoffice stuff was reloaded a few 
weeks ago and I don't know how to read that modification date on the screen.

 ’20170428153706454600  and  ‘20170425154724510819  are two "numbers" 
that the bank uses as unique flags that need to be saved for proof in 
case of a later problem. They do contain date-like information and I 
think, random, extra digits. Note the apostrophe-like character that I 
have added at the beginning. Precision of 64 bit floating point forbids 
allowing Calc to convert the sequence to a floating point number when I 
copy and paste.

I have been opening the destination cell and typing in a character which 
I learned in Excel and elsewhere was the proper thing to do and that the 
character would advise the software that it's not to be messed with. I 
have tried several other characters as a first item with the same results.

The number gets placed in the cell in a way that cannot be seen because 
it is drawn in space that is above the top of the cell. Increasing the 
height of the row makes it appear. Selecting the cell always allows the 
number, with it's prefix, to be read and edited in the space to the 
right of a big = sign at the top of the screen.

Sometimes Calc will insist that I must want a space character after the 
first character I typed before performing the paste operation. But just 
deliberately starting with a space is not a solution to the "unreadable 
above the cell border" problem. Looking back I see the apostrophe 
sometimes appears and sometimes doesn't. It's as if the presence of the 
apostrophe is sometimes just a character and other times is treated as 
"don't mess with my decimal digits".

The second number always works even when I re-try on another cell. It 
was loaded days earlier. The first number continues to fail no matter 
what I use as a starting character. (Yes, I have have tried altering the 
last zeros in the first number.)

Can anyone provide a procedure that will always work?

Off-topic, but perhaps germane: I still have problems with mm/dd/yyyy 
dates which sometimes get apostrophes added to them by the Calc 
software. My schemes for handling copy and paste typically have to use 
the VALUE() function into a temporary cell. But not always.  Sigh. Does 
Calc save dates as floating point 64 bit words?


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