Leading Zeros for Number Field

Does it need to be a number type field? Can you use a text field instead? You can convert it back to a number later if needed.

In my view, the purpose of using a tool like Airtable is recognizing data for its particular function to harness it. Sure, I could use a text field. But then Airtable loses its powers and I might as well use Google Sheets instead. For example, if I want to number sequentially from 1 to 10, with a numbers field I can use the fill handle to do this within seconds, rather than manually filling out each field.

Airtable Support | Quickly filling cells using fill handle | Continuing a series of data

I see what you are saying and I don’t disagree.

How do you do this in Google Sheets with the column formatted as a Number?

Use a formula field to pad the number with leading zeros.

For example, if you want a total of three digits, and are sure that your initial number is three digits or less…

CONCATENATE(
  REPT(
    "0",
    3 - LEN({number} & "")
  ),
  {number}
)

CONCATENATE(
  REPT(
    "0",
    3 - LEN({number} & "")
  ),
  {number}
)

I appreciate the suggestion. I input the formula as-is but am getting an error message:

Sorry, there was a problem saving this field. Unknown field names: number

Was I supposed to modify any words in the formula?

You need to replace {number} so that it matches the name of your field.

Thank you for clarifying, the formula now works! But I guess it’s dependent on the {X} column to produce the leading zero results.