[Solved] Removing the " ' " from XLS number converted cells

[Radshark]

I've downloaded an XLS of financial data. I do not have MS Excel. I use Calc.

When I open the file with Calc, a conversion is done that works pretty good except cells that should contain numbers are formatted as text. As such, no numerical operations can be completed using the cells.

(ie '123.00 (text) instead of simply 123 (number)).

Manually converting them cell by cell by deleting the " ' " is far too labour intensive.

Aside from purchasing MS Excel, does anyone have a solution to how to remove this pesky character from a large number of cells efficiently?

Cheers,

-Rad

[Radshark]

Just discovered the financial data cells were saved in XLS as text cells, and not misconverted. Nice :/.

Anyway, if someone has a slick way of removing a character in a range of cells I would be very appreciative.

Cheers,

-Rad

[MrProgrammer]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Anyway, if someone has a slick way of removing a character in a range of cells I would be very appreciative.

There is nothing to "remove". Read [Tutorial] Text to Columns Q02/A02. I presume you want procedure (B) since you want to work with numeric values.

… except cells that should contain numbers are formatted as text.

The values are stored as text. Their formatting is not relevant to the problem you are experiencing. It is important to understand this fundamental idea if you want to use spreadsheets.

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.

[Tutorial] Ten concepts that every Calc user should know

[Radshark]

Ah ha .. thanks!!

The text to columns was shaded out in the drop-down. Apparently, it will not handle a range of columns but it will handle one column at a time. I can make that work!!

Cheers,

-Rad