I have a XLSX file with a column containing YouTube Video IDs.
LibreOffice Calc parsed the Column and decided to convert some IDs into equations incorrectly.
For example: “-l5vbxjhsgs” gets interpreted as “=-l5vbxjhsgs”, which then gets equated to “#NAME?”.
How do I make it such that LibreOffice does not parse fields from Excel in this manner?
Calc will always parse entered content in one or another way, but you can prevent unwanted recognition as a number or as a formula by applying the format code “@” (‘Text’) for the respectice cells Under ‘Format Cells…’/‘Numbers’.
To undo unwanted recognition you have first to set the “@” format code and subsequently to use the tool ‘Data’ > ‘Text to Columns…’ with no separators set which will act as if the contents was just entered. Unfortunately you will have to use this tool one by one on the columns concerned.
I do not know how this will work exactly on documents loaded from XLSX files. Better use the native open formats, here ods, wherever possible.
The procedure described may not in every case get back exactly what was originally entered.