On Fri, 2005-02-25 at 15:13 +1000, Naomi Kramer wrote: > Hrmmm... OK, one more attempt and I leave you to the experts :-) Two > options occur to me (they're both a little messy) - > > - During import (if you select Insert -> Sheet from File) you can format > each column of data before it's imported. If there are a lot of > columns, doubtless this isn't really an option either.
This is probably the best way to do it. <tip author="G. Roderick Singleton" subject="Entering text in Calc" category="Calc"> When values in a files are converted to dates or numbers but should not be, you can override this by setting the column to text using the fields entry. Simply select the column and then the type from the Column type dropdown. </tip> > > - Do a find & replace on your CSV file, adding a ' after every comma, > THEN import. > > Naomi > > > That is one option, but only useful if done before pasting or typing > > data, since OO.o munges the internal representation of the string > > 'march123' to '01/03/23'. Converting that back to text (by means of > > changing the format) just gives a numeric value, in this case '11749'. > > > > In my case I'm importing a large CSV into a new sheet, so > > preformatting isn't an option for me, unfortunately. > > > > thanks, > > Greg > > > >> Greg, > >> > >> Is it an option to format the cells as 'text'? > >> > >> - Naomi > >> > >>> Here's an interesting one: > >>> > >>> If I type the text "march123" into a calc cell, then OO.o insists on > >>> converting it to 01/03/23. > >>> > >>> How can I tell it that I want my inserted text to remain as a string > >>> and not be converted to a date? This is for importing a rather > >>> large file of semi-random strings, so I'd rather not have to prepend > >>> every entry with a ' character. > >>> > >>> thanks, > >>> Greg > >> > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Documentation Co-Lead PLEASE - keep list traffic on the list. Email sent directly to me may be ignored utterly. "Dinna meddle wi' things ye ken nuthin' aboot!" J.Herriot --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
