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In my language, the comma is used as a decimal separator. But unforunately, Numbers imports csv with decimal points, not comma's. How can I tell Numbers that I want comma's in stead of points?
Thanks!
J
Mac Pro, macOS 12.6
Numbers just imports what it finds in the CSV file, where the decimal separator is already a decimal point in your case.
So you can act before or after importation.
Before: you open the file in TextEdit or other text editor and do a search(.) and replace (,). However you risk replacing legitimate periods (in texts) by commas. Evaluate the risk. Importation might not work correctly if the field separator is also a comma.
After: Basically the same thing with the advantage that you can hide columns before the search and replace. Content in hidden columns will not not be searched and replaced. Converted values may still be left-aligned, so format the column as Numbers and then back to Automatic.
The other option is to see if the source of the CSV file has the option of creating it with different decimal separators.
Numbers just imports what it finds in the CSV file, where the decimal separator is already a decimal point in your case.
So you can act before or after importation.
Before: you open the file in TextEdit or other text editor and do a search(.) and replace (,). However you risk replacing legitimate periods (in texts) by commas. Evaluate the risk. Importation might not work correctly if the field separator is also a comma.
After: Basically the same thing with the advantage that you can hide columns before the search and replace. Content in hidden columns will not not be searched and replaced. Converted values may still be left-aligned, so format the column as Numbers and then back to Automatic.
The other option is to see if the source of the CSV file has the option of creating it with different decimal separators.
If you copy-paste into Numbers, rather than File > Open a CSV file, then you have more flexibility.
You can go to File > Advanced > Language and Region ... and temporarily switch to a region that uses a decimal separator compatible with importing the CSV. Then paste the CSV data into a table, adjusting the delimiter if needed so the data is spread across columns as expected. Then go to File > Advanced and switch back to your original region.
SG
I just noticed something in Numbers 13.2, I wonder if it was there before.
If you open a CSV file which creates its own table, or create a table by pasting data from another source like Google Sheet, Numbers remembers what the data was like originally. So just after importing it shows that for a few seconds in the top-right corner of the sheet:
If the message has disappeared you can still find that at the bottom of the Format / Table side bar:
Clicking on either you're presented with this dialog window:
So if the source data has a decimal point but your language settings requires a comma instead just enter a point in the Decimal Separator field and the conversion is done immediately in the preview, and permanently in the table with Update Table. Quite handy. The other options can also make the importation a better success.
The Adjust Import Settings box has been there for a few years now.
There seem to be two issues.
If you are in a region that uses , for the decimal separator and you need to import csv with . as the decimal separator as posted above, you can go to File > Advanced > Language and Region ... and temporarily switch to a region that uses a decimal separator compatible with importing the CSV. Then paste the CSV data into a table, adjusting the delimiter if needed (using the Adjust Import Settings if necessary) so the data is spread across columns as expected. Then go to File > Advanced and switch back to your original region.
Recently people have reported trouble copy-pasting from Google Sheets in particular. That seems to be a different problem. First pasting into an another app and from there copy-pasting into Numbers has been reported to work.
SG
Thanks @Recycleur ! That looks like the feature I was missing. Gonna find out if it works for me!
Import CSV with decimal comma in stead of point
