diff --git a/specifyweb/frontend/js_src/lib/components/AttachmentsBulkImport/SelectUploadPath.tsx b/specifyweb/frontend/js_src/lib/components/AttachmentsBulkImport/SelectUploadPath.tsx
index 6954dd98726..90e34edfd66 100644
--- a/specifyweb/frontend/js_src/lib/components/AttachmentsBulkImport/SelectUploadPath.tsx
+++ b/specifyweb/frontend/js_src/lib/components/AttachmentsBulkImport/SelectUploadPath.tsx
@@ -62,16 +62,28 @@ export function generateUploadSpec(
   const field = queryFieldSpec.getField();
   const queryResultsFormatter = (
     value: number | string | null | undefined
-  ): string | undefined =>
-    value === undefined || value === null || field?.isRelationship === true
-      ? undefined
-      : syncFieldFormat(
-          field,
-          value.toString(),
-          queryFieldSpec.parser,
-          undefined,
-          true
-        );
+  ): string | undefined => {
+    if (value === undefined || value === null || field?.isRelationship === true)
+      return undefined;
+
+    const rawValue = value.toString();
+    const fieldFormatter = field?.getUiFormatter();
+    if (fieldFormatter !== undefined)
+      // Catalog number formatting can vary by Collection Object Type. The
+      // query field only has the schema-level formatter, so preserve database
+      // values that do not match that formatter instead of dropping them.
+      return fieldFormatter.format(rawValue) ?? rawValue;
+
+    return (
+      syncFieldFormat(
+        field,
+        rawValue,
+        queryFieldSpec.parser,
+        undefined,
+        true
+      ) ?? rawValue
+    );
+  };
   return {
     staticPathKey,
     formatQueryResults: queryResultsFormatter,
diff --git a/specifyweb/frontend/js_src/lib/components/AttachmentsBulkImport/__tests__/SelectUploadPath.test.ts b/specifyweb/frontend/js_src/lib/components/AttachmentsBulkImport/__tests__/SelectUploadPath.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..551626a52e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/specifyweb/frontend/js_src/lib/components/AttachmentsBulkImport/__tests__/SelectUploadPath.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import { requireContext } from '../../../tests/helpers';
+import { generateUploadSpec } from '../SelectUploadPath';
+
+requireContext();
+
+describe('generateUploadSpec catalog number result formatting', () => {
+  test('preserves catalog numbers that do not match the schema formatter', () =>
+    expect(
+      generateUploadSpec('collectionObjectCatalogNumber').formatQueryResults!(
+        'F-250750'
+      )
+    ).toBe('F-250750'));
+
+  test('keeps canonical formatting for values accepted by the schema formatter', () =>
+    expect(
+      generateUploadSpec('collectionObjectCatalogNumber').formatQueryResults!(
+        '123'
+      )
+    ).toBe('000000123'));
+});