I frequently use the “text to columns” feature in MS Office 2007 and higher. Usually I paste csv or other delimited data in the first column, and use the Text to Column wizard to convert it to individual columns.
You can find the button here:
What often happens, is that number values are not recognized correctly, for instance a field contains 24.67 and Excel thinks it’s not a number. Changing the decimal separator can be a real pain in the #$$, so I was looking for an easier method (instead of starting all over again…)
Today I had a bright idea, and decided to apply the Text to columns to the erronous column again. See what happens:
As you see, the point is not recognized as a decimal point. Apparently, Excel accepts only comma’s here (might be the other way around in your case).
Click the Text to Columns button, then select the “delimited” option, click next. Click next again. You’ll see this page:
Now click “Advanced…”.
Hah, I may choose a decimal and thousands seperator. Change the decimal to a dot, and the thousands separator to a comma. Or again, the other way around. The trick is that you tell Excel here wat character is a decimal, and not what it should be. A bit confusing, eh.
Click OK to leave the wizard. And, tadaah:
These look like real numbers to me. Patrick vs. Excel: 1-0.
was struggling with the deciaml formats from an export and pivot table didn´t work
absolutely helpful – saved my day
Excellent help, was on the point of giving up when i found this : )
Thanks a lot!!!!!!!!!