Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 93204
Excel compatibility issue: RIGHT function in Excel converts returned text string to numbers if numbers; OOo returns only text
Last modified: 2009-07-12 17:58:29 UTC
When reviewing an Excel spreadsheet, it became apparent that a cell with a RIGHT function in it was referring to a cell with text in it, in the form of "TEXT NUMBER". The RIGHT function was used to extract the NUMBER, and paste that as the result. Excel recognizes that NUMBER is a number, and pastes it into the cell as such. OOo only recognizes NUMBER as a textural part of the string, and pastes it into the cell as text, EVEN THOUGH IT DISPLAYS EXACTLY LIKE A NUMBER! Of course subsequent references to that cell do not provide the correct answer if thought of as a number, when it is in fact text. THIS INCOMPATIBILITY NEARLY COST ME MILLIONS OF DOLLARS!! It was only after berating an Excel user for stuffing up his spreadsheet was it pointed out to me that the results I was viewing was not what had been saved in Excel. I opened the same file in Excel, and verified that it was as they say, and that OOo had simply failed to recognize the numbers. I presume LEFT and any other similar functions would perform similarly, and should also be made compatible.
Please change first sentence to read more clearly: "When using Calc to review a spreadsheet created in Excel,... " Also, I dropped the priority level. It's still important, given the consequences that may go hidden, but be costing a lot of money. I've dropped the priority because it's a bit esoteric, I suppose, and there's probably not THAT many people for whom this is relevant.
Seems like a dupe of issue 5658, which has been around for 6+ years. If not, feel free to reopen. *** This issue has been marked as a duplicate of 5658 ***
duplicate -> closed