Values assigned to Array are stored as numbers, not as text

Question

I'm populating an array from several columns. In one column there are sometimes numbers, letters or a combination of it. The numbers in the source are formatted as text. Meaning I have leading zero's. When the array is populated, it converts the text to numbers. This means I lose my leading zero's if applicable. But I need this.

What did I tried to so far:

1. formatting the sheet where the array will post it to (will not work as the values in the array are already as numbers and lost the leading zero's);
2. Changed Dim myArray() as Variant to Dim myArray() as String;
3. Changed Dim i, j, k as Long to Dim i, j, k as String;
4. use Cstr to store the data in the array as a string;

This is my code what I have now:

numberOfRecords = Range(Selection, Selection.End(xlDown)).Rows.Count + 1

Dim myArray() As String
Dim i, j, k As Long
k = 0
ReDim myArray(numberOfRecords, 2 To 6) As String

For i = 2 To numberOfRecords
    If IsError(Application.Match(Cells(i, "A").Value, 
        Sheets("SE16N").Range("A:A"), 0)) Then
            For j = 2 To 6
                myArray(k, j) = CStr(Cells(i, j).Text)
                Debug.Print myArray(k, j) 'Just to check how the array is storing data
            Next j
        k = k + 1
    End If
Next i

I hope someone can help me.

I can only post 2 links as I don't have a reputation of 10 yet at Stack Overflow. Therefore only to sure for sure I have leading zero's and with the local windows view.

With leading zero's Local Windows view

Answer 1

I found a way to go around this issue: I changed the format of the respective column to text manually which is a one time effort. Initially in my code I had range.clear, but now I use range.clearcontent. Clearcontent doesn't remove the formatting of the column. Now it works like a charm. :)