[Solved] Prevent Paste from changing cell format (Text → Number)

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Malka
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Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2022 2:57 pm

[Solved] Prevent Paste from changing cell format (Text → Number)

Post by Malka »

Hello,

Looking for a solution I've stumbled over this forum. I've read some suggestions but none of them worked. So here's the problem:

I'm creating a spreadsheet containing a variety of information about my router. This information is updated daily. It includes a lot of numbers such as data rates and also the public IP-address.

I've selected the column for the IP-address and chose the cell format "Text".
Then I go to the browser and copy the IP to the clipboard.
I go back to the spreadsheet and insert the IP from the clipboard to the active cell.
But instead of showing the IP like 217.221.243.212 the cell contains a value "217221243212".

When I check the cell format it is set to "Number". Very strange...

I've tried a user defined format ###.###.###.### which also does not work.

So my question is how I can disable the auto format that changes the selected format "Text" to "Number".

Thank you very much!

Cheers Malka
Last edited by MrProgrammer on Tue Sep 20, 2022 4:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Tagged ✓ [Solved] -- MrProgrammer, forum moderator
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MrProgrammer
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Re: Disable Auto Format (Text --> Number)

Post by MrProgrammer »

Hi, and welcome to the forum.
Malka wrote: Tue Sep 20, 2022 3:11 pm Then I go to the browser and copy the IP to the clipboard.
I go back to the spreadsheet and insert the IP from the clipboard to the active cell.
I presume this means you are using Edit → Paste in Calc. But the copy operation in your browser has copied not only the data but also lots of formatting attributes to the clipboard. To avoid transferring these unknown formatting attributes to your spreadsheet use Edit → Paste Special → Unformatted Text instead of Edit → Paste.

If you need any additional assistance attach a document demonstrating the difficulty (remove confidential information then use Post Reply, not Quick Reply, and don't attach a picture instead of the document itself). Provide the URL of the page in the web browser so we can test the transfer.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit button and add [Solved] to the start of the subject field. Select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

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Mr. Programmer
AOO 4.1.7 Build 9800, MacOS 13.6.3, iMac Intel.   The locale for any menus or Calc formulas in my posts is English (USA).
Malka
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2022 2:57 pm

Re: Disable Auto Format (Text --> Number)

Post by Malka »

Thank you for this quick and helpful response. The suggested solution actually works!
Thank you very much!
OpenOffice 4.0
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John_Ha
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Re: Disable Auto Format (Text --> Number)

Post by John_Ha »

Pasting with Alt+SHIFT+V strips all formatting.
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