Forum Discussion
Text file import to excel
4 Replies
You wrote: Sometimes when I import a similar file with 900 employees, I noticed some of the amounts do not appear as numbers. Instead the data appears as counts.
Which, frankly, is a bit confusing. Counts normally being numbers, after all.
You went on to say, When I try to convert to number does not work.
You don't specify how you're doing that conversion. If it is to just change format, or re-state the cells' formats as "Number" that may not succeed.
I suggest you try using a helper column and entering there
=VALUE(CellWithCount)
Then copy that down the parallel "helper column."
I sometimes find I have to convert numeric text, when imported, to the value of the number by that process...concluded by doing a Copy....Paste Special...Values back over the offending column. I do a lot of imports from bank accounts, and am surprised occasionally that numbers there are exported/imported as text.
- That makes sense. I will try a helper column. Usually when I select a set of data, there is an icon that appears and it allows conversion to number. I work with employee benefits. Usually to double check my amounts i select data in my column to compare totals. In this case after the import when I selected the column it was not giving sum of the data and instead the data in that column seemed like they were text.
Let me know if it does the trick.
I'm retired now, but during my career spent several years as the director of the HR and Payroll database for a major corporation......so I know the kind of data you're dealing with intimately.
