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LibreOffice Calc: How to convert unformatted text to numbers (or other format)


How do I paste unformatted text (csv or tab delimited for instance) into LibreOffice Calc and then format it as numbers (without editing every cell by hand). When I paste the text below it puts a ' in front of everything so if I try to convert it to a number it's still text.

Text 0.01% 3% 5.1%
Asdf 0.2% 4% 6.0%

So for example if I paste special that as unformatted text with space delimiters and then convert 0.01% to a number (which would then say 0.0001 if it did what I wanted), it now says '0.01% in the cell.


Solution

  • This procedure is tested in LibreOffice 4.0.2. Paste as unformatted text, and choose the following options:

    • Select English as language, or some other language that uses periods as decimal separator.
    • Select "Detect special numbers".

    Now the percentages will be pasted as numbers instead of text, and you can use the format options to display them the way you like.