content: Microsoft? Of all the problems with MS products, this well-documented feature is not one of them. If data entered in a cell is not identified as a string of text (start it with a single quote) then automated type interpretation applies. OpenOffice and LibreOffice Calc exhibit the same behaviour.  According to the paper, the gene name problem and workarounds were first reported in 2004. And more than a decade later researchers are still misusing the tool and failing to proof-read their work.