https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=164741
--- Comment #3 from Mike Kaganski <[email protected]> --- (In reply to Dione Maddern from comment #2) > Would it be more correct to talk about the number being "formatted as text", > rather than "converted to text"? Perhaps with a note explaining that the > data type is not affected by the formatting change? Well, kind of :-) The section itself - "Numbers as text" - is highly interesting to users, who often *either* need to have their number-like text to *stay text*, and not be automatically converted to numbers upon entry; *or* to do the opposite: to get the numbers incorrectly imported as text to *convert to true numbers*. On the other hand, I never heard of a need to have numbers "formatted as text"; while applying the "@" format string to existing number would indeed left-align it in the cell, and use the *locale-default* number format for the number - this is not needed (I would claim it strong: it should never be necessary; formatting numbers as text is a logical user error; left-alignment, when needed, must be done by dedicated alignment tool). So while this section is important, it needs a completely different content. The existing content - telling to format cell as text and expect the text to be in the cell - could be an example of the *widespread* user misconception, and could stay to *illustrate* what should *not* be expected. But it could go on, describing that *from now on*, with the cell having the textual format, the *new entry* (e.g., editing the number) will be treated as text, so the edit result will replace the cell value with true text. There is a FAQ [1] on the topic. > Please bear with me. I'm not a software developer, so I have a limited > understanding of how Calc works. I would be glad to discuss difficult areas with you, if you wish. If needed, we can arrange a calls and screen sharing sessions. [1] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Faq/Calc/How_to_convert_number_text_to_numeric_data -- You are receiving this mail because: You are the assignee for the bug.
