diff --git a/app/client/lib/tableUtil.js b/app/client/lib/tableUtil.js
index 20bd864f..30d13f66 100644
--- a/app/client/lib/tableUtil.js
+++ b/app/client/lib/tableUtil.js
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ function makePasteHtml(tableData, selection, includeColHeaders) {
           let rawValue = col.rawGetter(rowId);
           let fmtValue = col.fmtGetter(rowId);
           let dataOptions = {};
-          if (rawValue != fmtValue) {
+          if (rawValue !== fmtValue) {
             dataOptions['data-grist-raw-value'] = JSON.stringify(rawValue);
           }
           return dom('td', dataOptions, fmtValue);
diff --git a/app/client/widgets/ReferenceEditor.ts b/app/client/widgets/ReferenceEditor.ts
index b56ac2bc..abd711a5 100644
--- a/app/client/widgets/ReferenceEditor.ts
+++ b/app/client/widgets/ReferenceEditor.ts
@@ -128,7 +128,12 @@ export class ReferenceEditor extends NTextEditor {
     if (matches.length > 0) {
       return matches[0].value;
     } else {
-      return this.textInput.value;
+      const value = this.textInput.value;
+      if (this._visibleCol === 'id') {
+        // If the value is a valid number (non-NaN), save as a numeric rowId; else as text.
+        return +value || value;
+      }
+      return value;
     }
   }