Jim,

Okay, I'm seeing this a bit more clearly now.  Maybe because I'm not at
work. :-)

If I copy a cell with a series of zeros stored in a cell formatted as
Text and paste it into another cell, I only get the zeros.  No
apostrophe, whether I merely Paste or Paste Special - Values.  I'm now
wondering how you get that confounded apostrophe.  And am I correct in
assuming it only shows up in B6?

What's strange is that if I don't choose the "Keep Source Formatting"
option after the Paste, the zeros are all still there even though the
destination cell keeps General formatting.  And yet, no apostrophe
(Excel 2002).  The more I look at this, the confuseder I get - and the
more I want to get to the bottom of this.  Which version of Excel are
you using?

Also, do you actually need to Paste Special?  That is, are DepAmt and
DepDate also stored as text?

Perhaps you need to Copy/Paste the first two columns normally, then the
third and fourth as Special-Values.  Or at least you might need to be
sure your destination cells in column B are formatted as text before
the Paste operation.

A bit of detail:

In Excel 2002, I copy a series of zeros from a cell formatted as Text.

Paste places the zeros in the destination cell and changes its format
to Text.  If I then enter a series of zeros in that cell, they all
show.

Paste Special - Values places the zeros in the destination cell and
keeps its format as General. (!?!)  I see all the zeros.  But if I
enter a series in zeros in that cell - or even activate the cell for
editing but making no changes - I only see a single zero after pressing
Enter.

If you have an earlier version of Excel, it may be inserting the
apostrophe because Paste Special - Values keeps the destination cell's
formatting intact and your destination B6 is in General format.  And
the Microsoft programmers hadn't yet figured out how to hide the
apostrophe.