I’d say this thread has already a solution given by @JohnSUN
If you set the column-type to text the contents stay text. (This is also the place where you can choose to recognize foreign numbers 3.141 instead of 3,141 )
It is obviously named by the source: text-based files, not by the destination or it would be labeled spreadsheet import.
OK, so if it’s obviously being named by the files being text-based, it seems ironic that there’s no apparent easy/intuitive solution to actually make them display and be used as text when the file’s ultimately opened. This solution should be as front-and-center as the the title of “Text Import”… there should be 1 checkbox named “Display and treat all values as just text”. See what I’m saying?
Yep. The usual “my needs as default” request. I switched at work to OpenOffice as I was annoyed by Excel (2003 ??), wich just imported files assuming the formatting and importing wrong. I am glad Open- and LibreOffice ask me nicely… (Sometimes I find some structures we developed to prepare files for Excel even now in our archives…)
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But as I am no Developer for Aoo/LO it is not important what I read or think. Requests for “enhancements” go through bugzilla, but you should accept your opinion may not be supported by everybody. There is concern on usability of the import dialogue, and as tl;dr is a mayor issue now manuals will not help…
Virtually nobody wants to import numeric text into an arithmetic calculator. If you want to do so, just do the 2 extra clicks or write your own macro program.
Yes, I see.
…and one more checkbox to recognize numbers as numbers. And one more checkbox to recognize records with a dot as numbers in the American format. And three more checkboxes recognize dates as day/month/year, as month/day/year, as year/month/day. And a small bunch of checkboxes for other options… You say that clicking one checkbox will be convenient for them - it’s only one click instead of three. But you forget that they also have to click the rest of the checkboxes that are checked to reset them… And instead of three clicks, the user clicks a dozen times… Be careful about granting the wishes of lazy users!
Why would people start requesting a checkbox for each data type just because a checkbox shows to display all data as just text? Those are two different levels of context (one broad, one specific). “just text” applies to all datatypes regardless of type (it ignores trying to figure out any type and just sets them to the base readable type as they would show in a flat text editor)… if you consider here that “text” is a datatype, well guess what, it’s the default datatype when there’s no formatting at all! Just the way you’d see in Notepad or TextEdit or whatever Linux flat text editor you prefer. It can’t be confused for any other datatype because it’s unformatted. This especially applies to CSV.
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Also, having a bunch of checkboxes to show everything as a certain data type makes no sense when the app by default already processes all values by the scanned datatype… your fear is based on a redundancy, just applied to all, and in the case of non-numeric types in the file, applied improperly! Nobody would want that anyway! In what cases would a numeric value not be processed by LibreOffice as something other than a number? That would sound like a bug. Would it rewrite a number as a date? Would the user want a date rewritten as a number? In which format, Unix time, or something that uses minutes? I don’t see how your fear would lead to anything but chaos for users (an actual reason to avoid implementing a datatype-based checkbox), whereas my suggestion fixes chaos users are already experiencing, because plain text just displays everything as-is with no formatting!
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You’re mixing up a checkbox that would prevent formatting (agnostic or no datatypes at all) with checkboxes that would force formatting (opinionated datatyping). Please, I hope you can understand the difference here… my suggestion would not lead to what you’re suggesting being implemented.
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I don’t know what else to say here. I think I found something that lets Excel be configured to open .csv files as showing all values as plain text, that isn’t a macro (it’s an import, still more steps than just a configuration), which would mean Excel is still ahead of LibreOffice in this regard.
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As a programmer myself, I see no logical reason to just not have a setting to have *.*sv files open in Calc with plain text values. That does not seem hard to implement. Seriously.
They’re not lazy; just sometimes people forget something. Also, you’re mixing up laziness with the desire for efficiency. Should the iPhone never have existed because it made things easier for people? How lazy people are to use smartphones instead of laptops or write letters! We should really just throw away all technology and do everything in the forest.
On a smart phone you would install one app for the csv of Company A, another app for the csv of Company B, a third app for the csv of company C and each app would be updated automatically when its owner changes the csv flavour. Spreadsheet applications are generic software tools originating from (and still compatible with) the the killer apps of the 80ies and 90ies of the past century.
With a minimum of effort Calc can import thousands of different csv flavours correctly. And no, importing text only into an arithmetic calculator makes absolutely no sense, nevertheless it is possible with one additional click and a listbox selection.
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Our users don’t view CSV files on phones… and most CSV users I’ve worked with opened CSV files on desktop computers or laptops. My question is within the context of LibreOffice for Mac/Windows. Maybe I should have stated that, but I thought LibreOffice’s main usage was on those operating systems.
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That’s nice, but that doesn’t mean the popular modern ones easily show values as plain text when the file is opened. Old apps or their compatibility are irrelevant here. My clients are looking for the easiest way to open CSV files with plain-text-only values, and the easiest way I can think of is to have a setting in the app to have this happen with *.*sv files. I don’t know why there’s so much resistance to that here. It doesn’t seem hard to implement, and I’m saying that as a programmer myself.
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So what? I don’t see your point here. Who cares how many flavors it can import? That’s not the point. Also, “correctly” in our case means “without modifying values”… and I’m not seeing how to have the app do that automatically for the user upon double-click of the file, without adding something like 3 extra steps each file open that each worker may or may not remember each time.
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This is a strange statement considering the app already allows the user to do that… but using the extra-3-steps-each-file-open method suggested here. I’ve already explained why that can be a problem, I don’t understand why logically that should be the best solution, and the best feasible solution I can think of has been suggested. I don’t know why there’s such resistance to it. Maybe difficulty understanding how it would work? I’m having no difficulty with that. All it takes is someone stepping up and making the change happen. As a programmer this does not look like a difficult problem, and an alternate solution can be a toggle on the Import screen, as I’ve also suggested. I also don’t know why anyone would resist that nor think that would create new out-of-context problems.
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I feel like some people here are getting to detail D and forgetting detail A, or getting to detail G and forgetting detail C. Maybe you haven’t been in this situation enough to really understand why so many people are asking for this to be easier, even as easy as I’ve suggested.
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All it takes is someone stepping up and doing it.
Can you please use <br> instead that adds a line break? Thanks.
Like
this.
It is a simple problem with a simple solution. Click corner, choose text in order to lose all spreadsheet functionality.
So … youre the Expert … why you dont implement it ??