Format $ as numbers not text in earnings reports

1. 70

   makingamarkposted 9 years ago

   I've just exported the earnings report for September as a csv document - and then opened it in Excel and am absolutely dismayed to find that all the income reported is formatted as TEXT!
   
   Bottom Line: this means it is completely useless for manipulation when imported into Excel because the $ are not numbers - they have had an $ artificially inserted as a prefix in front of the number which nullifies the value of this data as numerical data.
   
   Could you PLEASE:
   * put the denomination for the value at the top of the column (i.e. incorporate $ in all relevant column headings NOT as prefix)
   * RENDER ALL EARNINGS AS NUMERICAL VALUES and not text (i.e. remove the $ which currently prefaces all numbers)
   
   This would then allow calculations (e.g. averages, percentages etc) with ease when the data is exported to a spreadsheet
   
   Thank you for your consideration.

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2. 82

   earnerposted 9 years ago

   A csv file is just a text file.  When you import it to Excel you can choose to import that part as numbers.  Or, you can select the column and change the format to numbers.
   
   To remove the $ just do a search/replace.  Yes this bit is annoying, I can see that.

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   1. 70

      makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      which is why it is a lot simpler if the TEXT that is entered is just numbers.......
      
      One person at the HQ end enters as numbers as opposed to all hubbers who download into excel having to convert the text to numbers - assuming they know how to do this.
      
      It's just an awful lot simpler to make it simple in the first place by making numbers just numbers and include a $ sign as a column heading

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3. 0

   calculus-geometryposted 9 years ago

   I upload HP's CSVs into Google Spreadsheets (now in Google Drive) and it always treats numerical entries as numbers automatically without me having to do anything. In GS you can averages, sorting, etc, so some people might prefer to use it instead of Excel.
   
   GS also has the option of letting you download the sheets as .xlsx files, which perhaps you prefer to work with, and it preserves the number formatting you need.

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   1. 70

      makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      but it's not a numerical entry - it's text!
      
      I prefer to download csvs direct to Excel which is what I've been doing for the last eight years with Squidoo.
      
      I then change them to Excel files (because I've used Excel for some 20 odd years)
      
      However I haven't had the problem before of being unable to manipulate numerical data because it's been represented as text rather than as numbers
      
      For the record, csv files are comma separated files. They are capable of recording both numerical and text data in plain format and it's very easy to import them into Excel so long as text is text and numbers are numbers.
      
      I can't think of a good reason why numbers of dollars should not be represented as numbers in a csv file - given they will have started life as numbers!

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      1. 0

         calculus-geometryposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         No, Google Spreadsheets is "smart" and treats the entries as they should be treated.  I've been using it for years and am impressed that Google makes such a great app available for free.

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4. 83

   psycheskinnerposted 9 years ago

   That file format is text, and can only be text, although excel can sometimes figure out it is meant to be a number.  Just select the columns in the excel spreadsheet -- go to cell format -- select numeral. That leads it to disregard the dollar sign.  If they remove it someone will be here asking what units it in.

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   1. 70

      makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      You think so? Even if they put a $dollar sign at the top of each column?
      
      You don't think the calibre of person who writes hubs can cope with $ signs at the top of columns - which is a perfectly normal and routine way of representing cash?
      
      How difficult is it to input numbers only?
      
      Re the file format issue csv can be text or numbers - it is NOT a file format which ONLY deals in text.  I also guarantee that these numbers started life as numbers!

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