Excel format says their numbers, autosum says "liar!"

[dan.jordan]

When we open a DBF (Dbase) file created by our ESRI mapping software
the numeric fields, though they show as "numbers" under Excel's Format
Cell window, are not seen as numeric by the AutoSum (or any other
summing technique). We get an error message that something's wrong
with the fields.

If we copy a blank cell and do a Paste Special to the problem cells
then the Autosum starts to work okay.

Any insights on why this would be?

Dan

 

[Harlan Grove]

(e-mail address removed) wrote...

When we open a DBF (Dbase) file created by our ESRI mapping software
the numeric fields, though they show as "numbers" under Excel's Format
Cell window, are not seen as numeric by the AutoSum (or any other
summing technique). We get an error message that something's wrong
with the fields.

If we copy a blank cell and do a Paste Special to the problem cells
then the Autosum starts to work okay.

Any insights on why this would be?

You don't understand what the Format Cells dialog shows. Select one of
the cells in question, then press [Ctrl]+1 to display the Format Cells
dialog. Select the Number tab and choose the Number category. Change
the number of decimal places. Does the number in the Sample box change
as you vary the number of decimal places? If not, your numbers are
text.

What's the actual error message you mention?