I have good news for you. This is not as hard as you might think. Making the change requires that you either have the customization site license (CSL) or Modifier/VBA. (If you only have CSL, you'll have to have your VAR make this change for you). Then using Modifier, change the format of the Phone_Number and Phone_Number3 data types to not have an input mask. The change you make will be stored in the forms.dic file, which will then have to be copied to every other GP workstation. The Customization Maintenance window cannot export a change like this.
Don't be afraid to make the change yourself. Just launch Modifier (Tools>>Customize>>Modifier), and you'll see a data types button on the tool bar.
Good luck.
Ron Draganowski
Senior Solution Developer
Olsen Thielen Technologies, Inc.
rdrag@ottechnologies.com
www.ottechnologies.com
Find me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rondraganowski