This is a classic case of using the right tool for the wrong job, and the frustration is entirely understandable. When you treat a spreadsheet as a database, which countless organizations do out of necessity, you inherit all of its limitations. The specific problem here is that Excel is built to manipulate cells, not to interpret human shorthand. A range like "000001-000045" is perfectly readable to a person, but to Excel, it is just a string of text. It has no idea that "0000033" lives inside that string, because the software was never designed to look for patterns within a single cell.
The practical takeaway is that manually typing each seal number is not the only solution, but it is the only solution within the confines of traditional spreadsheet logic. You could write a complex formula to parse the range, split it into start and end values, and then generate a list of every number in between. That is technically possible, but it requires a level of formula fluency that most users do not have and should not need. The deeper issue is that Excel asks you to adapt your workflow to its rigid structure, rather than adapting itself to how you naturally work. When you enter a range, you are communicating efficiently. The software should honor that efficiency.
This is where a more progressive approach to data management changes the equation. An AI-native spreadsheet does not require you to pre-split every range or write a custom parsing script. It understands that "000001-000045" means a series of consecutive numbers, and it can instantly answer the question "Is 0000033 in this set?" without you having to restructure your data. The search becomes intelligent, not literal. For organizations tracking hundreds or thousands of seal numbers, this is the difference between a daily headache and a background process that simply works.
The solution is not to abandon spreadsheets, but to demand more from them. You should not have to choose between entering data efficiently and finding it later. If your current tool forces that trade-off, it is time to explore an option that treats your intent as seriously as your input. The technology exists to make this problem disappear. The only question is whether you are ready to stop working around the limitations of a legacy tool.