I have tried using Notes for some of my bids, but all I get is an asterisk instead of the note I have put in, which has been a number. Any help would be appreciated.

The asterisk is an indication that you have something in the notes for this item.
The note could be multi-line, so it won't fit in the cell anyway.

All I am using is single numbers, not a paragraph of a message! Is the system so feeble that it cannot handle a single digit?????

There is no reason why the notes area cannot display a single digit number. I understand that a message of more than 25-30 words would be difficult to handle, but a single digit???

Come on, let's join the real world here!!!!!!!

And by the way, an asterick is not useful, I still have to look up what I put in there, so I am back to square one!

Different users use different things. The system can't know what you would use in advance, so it was designed that you may use more than one digit.
Normally users don't use a single digit in the notes anyway. It is a real world actually.

The asterisk is an indication that you have a note. If you don't have anything, it will not show the asterisk.

why not showing the first line of the note and add an asterix to show that there are additional lines in the note? This would be an improvement.

That may be too confusing, but I'll consider it. Thank you.

thanks!