A plain number is always inches. For metric, put the unit on it: 87mm, 1.5cm, 2m.
Copies one value per line — paste straight back into Excel. Row order is preserved, blanks included.
Fractions carry a " so Excel treats them as text. Strip it and Excel turns 7/16 into July 16.
Start with a figure, then stack lines under it. Every line shows what it read and where the running total sits.