Re: [libreoffice-users] Copying cell contents to create phrase

On 17/03/14 18:02, Brian Barker wrote:
> At 17:48 17/03/2014 +0000, Budgie Noname wrote:
> > On 17/03/14 13:25, Brian Barker wrote:
> > > At 11:43 17/03/2014 +0000, Budgie Noname wrote:
> > > > In short I am having to "massage" a .csv file exported from one
> > > > system before importing it into an accounting system.  The
> > > > accountant wants a "Comment" column added before importing the file
> > > > which summarises information held in four other columns.  Two
> > > > columns contain names and do not present a problem but the other two
> > > > have dates.  In the .csv file the dates are shown 02-Oct-14 and I am
> > > > having trouble getting these dates treated as text.
> > > >
> > > > To get the names I have:-
> > > > =B2&" "&C2 but how do I copy the dates?
> > >
> > > If you have real dates in the columns and you need to include them as
> > > text in the additional column, just use TEXT(D2;"DD-MMM-YY") where
> > > you would otherwise use D2 in your formula, and so on.
> > >
> > > But if you mean that your original CSV file has these dates in this
> > > format, there is an easier way.  When you open the CSV file, you
> > > should see the Text Import dialogue.  Under Fields, click in the date
> > > columns and then select Text from the drop-down menu against "Column
> > > type".  The dates will be imported as text and you will not need the
> > > above workaround.
> >
> > Having managed to write the comment column with your help I have
> > another problem.  The contents of the comment cells comprise elements
> > put there by the formula.  How may I "freeze" them as text so that I
> > may delete the columns used by the formula?
>
> o Copy the relevant cells.
> o Go to Edit | Paste Special... (or right-click | Paste Special... or
> Ctrl+Shift+V).
> o In the Paste Special dialogue, ensure that "Paste all" is not ticked
> and then that Text (or whatever) is ticked but Formulas is *not* ticked.
>
> I trust this helps.
>
> Brian Barker
Brian,
One last (I hope) question related to the task in hand.  I have some 
instructions from my accountant concerning the preparation of the file 
before saving as .csv to import.  She says:-

 "the data in the booking date column must not have the time.  So 
highlight all the cells then right click over them and click on format 
cells.  Click on custom under category and then scroll up the options to 
find dd/mm/yyyy.  Then select that and click OK"

These are written for Excel.  At a guess, "custom" might equate to "user 
defined" but if I select that no options are offered.  OTOH if I select 
"date" I can select dd/mm/yyyy but does that eliminate any time data in 
the cells and achieve her purpose?

Sorry to be dumb once more.
Budgie.

--
To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscribe@global.libreoffice.org
Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/
Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/
All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted