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#1
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Excel 2007 General Formating Unwanted Text to Date Conversion
I am working with Excel 2007. Files exported from SAP to Excel often contain
text fields that get converted to dates. Is there a way to turnoff Excels auto date conversion for cells with a general format? I already know cells formatted as text do not convert to date values and values entered in to a cell having a general format preceded with an (€˜) will not be messed with. Neither of these points of information is of any use in solving the problems I am having. Using the startup workbook using both template and workbook formats in the XL Start Folder to set the desired columns text format seemed like a good idea but does not work either. The problem here is this does not change the format of the default Workbooks created using the New Worksheet option. Is there a way this setting can be changed? Or is there some other solution to this problem? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Rich |
#2
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Excel 2007 General Formating Unwanted Text to Date Conversion
I don't think it could be turned off... As you yourself mentioned, the only
option is to mark the column as Text/numbers at the time of importing. I am curious to know why you are not happy with the solution and want it to be General format and still treat the values as Text? "RRTRACKS77" wrote: I am working with Excel 2007. Files exported from SAP to Excel often contain text fields that get converted to dates. Is there a way to turnoff Excels auto date conversion for cells with a general format? I already know cells formatted as text do not convert to date values and values entered in to a cell having a general format preceded with an (€˜) will not be messed with. Neither of these points of information is of any use in solving the problems I am having. Using the startup workbook using both template and workbook formats in the XL Start Folder to set the desired columns text format seemed like a good idea but does not work either. The problem here is this does not change the format of the default Workbooks created using the New Worksheet option. Is there a way this setting can be changed? Or is there some other solution to this problem? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Rich |
#3
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Excel 2007 General Formating Unwanted Text to Date Conversion
The problem appears to be that SAP uses the default Workbook format (General)
with the spreadsheet it creates. I would love to format it as a text column, if I just knew how. It seems kind of silly that Microsoft would not provide this text to date conversion as an option for the general format field. Rich Sheeloo wrote: I don't think it could be turned off... As you yourself mentioned, the only option is to mark the column as Text/numbers at the time of importing. I am curious to know why you are not happy with the solution and want it to be General format and still treat the values as Text? I am working with Excel 2007. Files exported from SAP to Excel often contain text fields that get converted to dates. [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] Thanks, Rich |
#4
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Excel 2007 General Formating Unwanted Text to Date Conversion
Ideally SAP configurator should take care of this by specifying the fields as
TEXT. If they can provide a CSV file (you can try renaming the file you have) then you can import them and specify the column as text. "RRTRACKS77" wrote: The problem appears to be that SAP uses the default Workbook format (General) with the spreadsheet it creates. I would love to format it as a text column, if I just knew how. It seems kind of silly that Microsoft would not provide this text to date conversion as an option for the general format field. Rich Sheeloo wrote: I don't think it could be turned off... As you yourself mentioned, the only option is to mark the column as Text/numbers at the time of importing. I am curious to know why you are not happy with the solution and want it to be General format and still treat the values as Text? I am working with Excel 2007. Files exported from SAP to Excel often contain text fields that get converted to dates. [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] Thanks, Rich |
#5
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Excel 2007 General Formating Unwanted Text to Date Conversion
Yes, SAP is probably saying it would be ideal if Excel provided this feature
and there you have it, a user hostile environment where it is someone elses and nobodys fault. Although SAP does provide CSV as an export option I would rather not go that route as I would have to train about 20 people on how to use it, and then it would be clunky compared exporting directly to an Excel Pivot table as SAP does allow. Surely there must be some way to set the default workbook fields to something other than a general format. As previously noted the default workbook is the one that starts from the €œFile Menu, New€ option, not the default startup workbook that starts when the Excel program opens. Thanks, Rich Sheeloo wrote: Ideally SAP configurator should take care of this by specifying the fields as TEXT. If they can provide a CSV file (you can try renaming the file you have) then you can import them and specify the column as text. The problem appears to be that SAP uses the default Workbook format (General) with the spreadsheet it creates. I would love to format it as a text column, [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] Thanks, Rich |
#6
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Excel 2007 General Formating Unwanted Text to Date Conversion
The following comments on this were sent to Microsofts Feedback Web page. As
far as I can tell that is the best you can do in reporting a bug to the giant without ears. Having files imported into Excel is fairly common. There are two items related to this I have issues with and have seen many others complain about with great passion, that call for your consideration. Giving the €œgeneral format€ the ability to turn off or on the option for converting suspected text to date would be heralded by many as a great achievement by Microsoft. The headache this lack of flexibility has caused is not limited to importing data. Being given the ability to set the format for the default workbook would be valuable in exchanging data with people having limited skills such as myself. The song and dance you give about using the XL Start directory to set defaults comes close to being fraud when it does nothing more than provide unnecessary instructions for providing a shortcut to a workbook while not changing any of the default workbook settings associated with opening a new workbook within Excel that would be required for receiving data from other programs. Sheeloo wrote: Ideally SAP configurator should take care of this by specifying the fields as TEXT. If they can provide a CSV file (you can try renaming the file you have) then you can import them and specify the column as text. The problem appears to be that SAP uses the default Workbook format (General) with the spreadsheet it creates. I would love to format it as a text column, [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] Thanks, Rich -- Message posted via http://www.officekb.com |
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