Friday, February 24, 2012

Export to Excel - "Convert from Number to text" to Number

Hi all,

I was trying to export a report which contains a number format. When I do that, all the numbers will have a green small tag beside it saying "Convert from Number to Text". Which in turn restricts the user, to allow any calculations on the cells. Is there anyway that I can change the format to number when I export it to excel so that I can allow users to do any calculations after they export it to excel?

The details for the above problem are below:

I am using Sql Server 2000 SP4, Reporting services. and I am giving an example below, in case if my problem description is not clear.

Say I have a report which has three columns called Name, Sales, Cost, whose data types are set to - Default, N0, C(Currency). When I export this report to Excel, I get the green tag beside both the Sales and Cost column cells. when I hover over the "!" which comes beside the selected cell , it has a note saying "The number in this cell is formatted as text or preceeded by an apostrophe.". The first line when I click on ^ button shows "Convert from Number to Text."

Any help on this problem is greatly appreciated,

Thanks,

-Shireesha

I have the exact same issue and it's quite problematic (for me as well as others, I assume) since the whole value of being able to export to Excel is that users will be able to play with the data. If the data is formatted as text, then the user can't perform calculations or create charts based on the data. I'm new to Reporting Services and Visual Web Developer and I don't know how to approach this problem. Is there anyone who has ideas on how to designate the format of the cells when exporting to Excel?

To see the result of the problem, create a report on this page: http://epdc.org/GuidedSearch.aspx, and export it to Excel. Witness the angry green corners.

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