Forum Discussion

Tony_Williams2335's avatar
Tony_Williams2335
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Nov 13, 2023

Control data conversions in Excel for Windows and Mac

Hey Insiders, we’ve improved the Automatic Data Conversion settings we made available last year, and are now making them broadly available in both Excel for Windows and Excel for Mac. Users now have the ability to change Excel’s default behavior and disable specific types of automatic data conversions as needed. Learn more here.
 
To do so, select File > Options > Data > Automatic Data Conversion, and then choose the conversion(s) that you’d like to disable.
 
 
Please note: This feature is available to all users running:
 
Windows: Version 2309 (Build 16808.10000) or later
Mac: Version 16.77 (Build 23091003) or later
 
Best,
Tony
Microsoft 365 Insider Social Community Manager
 
Become a Microsoft 365 Insider and gain exclusive access to new features while helping to shape the future of Microsoft 365. Join Now: Windows | Mac | iOS | Android
excel
Microsoft 365 Insider
windows
    • KevinInKy's avatar
      KevinInKy
      Copper Contributor
      May 01, 2024

      Dean_Resource 

      Glad to know that I'm not the only one to notice the Automatic Data Conversion settings do nothing at all.  I have HATED how Excel converts large numbers to scientific notations for years.  When I heard this feature was coming I was excited.  But only to find out that this feature does nothing.  Still, when I open a file the numbers get converted to Scientific Notation regardless of how this setting is set.  Clearly this function does not work.  Who the heck decided to do this in the first place.  No one wants scientific notation.  Not even scientists.

      • Dean_Resource's avatar
        Dean_Resource
        Copper Contributor
        May 01, 2024

        Annoyingly this does do things but ONLY for numbers over 15 characters. if you have less than 15 characters it will still get E+ on it. This function just needs removing completely. If i want to convert a column into scientific notation, guess what microsoft? i can right click and choose formatting and then pick SCIENTIFIC NOTATION, and like Lexmark, i feel it will never be chosen.

    • Quendi's avatar
      Quendi
      Copper Contributor
      Apr 24, 2024
      Yep, because it is so useful to have options that doesn't do anything...

Resources