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    Client Center: ISBN13 Values Incorrect - Scientific Notation in Excel Spreadsheet

    • Product: 360 Core Client Center

    When we open a file (such as a library-specific holdings database or a Resource Manager report) into Excel, the ISBN13 (Book) column has weird numbers (like 9.78053E+12) rather than ISBNs -- how do we fix it?

    Microsoft Excel displays large numbers with scientific notation by default. Therefore, if you download a file from the Client Center, open it in Excel, and find some fields with scientific notation instead of numbers, you will need to change these values back to full numbers using the following procedure. (These steps are applicable to Excel 2007; please refer to Excel help files if you have a different version of Office or Excel):
    1. Highlight the column that contains the ISBN values by left-clicking the column.
    2. Right-click the same column header and select the menu option Format Cells
    3. For the displayed Category, select Custom.
    4. Click OK.
    If the above procedure does not work, try the following:
    1. Highlight the column that contains the ISBN values by left-clicking the column.
    2. Right-click the same column header and select the menu option Format Cells
    3. For the displayed Category, select Special.
    4. Select Zip Code.
    5. Click OK.
    This issue applies to at least three types of files you could get from the Client Center: library-specific holdings, offline date and status editor, and Resource Manager reports. However, the problem will occur with any Excel file where a cell has a large number, so you may discover it in other situations as well.



    • Date Created: 9-Feb-2014
    • Last Edited Date: 21-Feb-2014
    • Old Article Number: 7520