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FiremanSailorJim's avatar
FiremanSailorJim
Copper Contributor
Oct 25, 2025

Data Import issue???

I am working on a drift formula for items being pushed by wind and waves on the water. I imported a text file of weather data, formatted all the data to numbers, and built an "if" formula to convert ...
BI & Data Analysis
excel
Formulas and Functions
korinakats's avatar
korinakats
Copper Contributor
Nov 03, 2025

Hi there!

I agree, the problem is most likely due to the formatting of the data imported from the text file. 

 

SOLUTION 1 - Fix the Formula:

Use the VALUE() function to convert text to number:

=IF(VALUE(B28)<180, VALUE(B28)+180, VALUE(B28)-180)

SOLUTION 2 - Fix the Data (Power Query):

If you frequently import such files, it's better to fix the formatting 
from the start:

  1. Data → Get Data → From Text/CSV
  2. Select your file
  3. In the Power Query Editor:
     - Right-click on the column with wind degrees
     - Change Type → Decimal Number (or Whole Number)
  4. Close & Load

 

This way, the data will always be imported as numbers and your original 

formula will work correctly.

 

Best, 

Korina

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