The Optional special format will allow you to assign a default format to this parts group. If this group has numbers that are always formatted the same (same number of digits, same spacing) you may want to use this feature. In this example we will use a BMW part number. BMW part numbers are always in the format "xx xx x xxx xxx". That is they have 11 digits in 5 groups separated by spaces. The special format entry you make has 2 special characters that are recognized by the program "S" or "-" which stand for Space and Hyphen. When entering the special format you can use any character for the number and will represent spaces or hyphens with "S" or "-". The entry for a BMW number could be "11S11S1S111S111S". Note that a space character was left at the end on the number. This will ensure a space after the last group of numbers if a longer number is entered.

Once you have entered a special format for a group all the numbers you create afterwards will automatically be reformatted to match this format. For example, if we create a new BMW part and enter "12345678999" as the part number it will automatically be reformatted to read "12 34 5 678 999". If you wish to reformat all your existing numbers to match the new special format you should run the program "Re-format all part numbers in a group" (APM).