So here is a news from strange but true department. Microsoft Excel blamed for gene study errors [bbc.com].
Microsoft’s Excel has been blamed for errors in academic papers on genomics.
Researchers trying to raise awareness of the issue claim that the spreadsheet software automatically converts the names of certain genes into dates.
Gene symbols like SEPT2 (Septin 2) were found to be altered to “September 2”.
Aah, classic!
This is what happens when you spend countless hours learning genome sequencing and very little about the software tools where your data goes. May be we need bring clippy back to warn people about such sticky situations.
All jokes aside, here is a public service announcement for you. Beware of helpful features in Excel like auto correct, flash fill, auto fill, scientific notation etc.
Here are a few tips for you if you find yourself coding genome in Excel (or something similar)
- Use TEXT format for data that contains possible dates, values that start with = etc. To set TEXT format, select data entry range and use Home > Number > Text
- This can deal with cells that contain possible dates, credit card numbers, very long numbers, leading zeros, fractions, values that start with = (which Excel thinks formulas )
- This can deal with cells that contain possible dates, credit card numbers, very long numbers, leading zeros, fractions, values that start with = (which Excel thinks formulas )
- When importing text files to Excel (like your genome sequence data or what have you), select text as data type for the columns that can be misinterpreted by Excel.
- If a cell starts with = and should not be treated as a formula, prefix the cell with ‘ apostrophe
- Disable features like Flash fill, auto complete and percentage entry if you must
Help the hapless, share your tips
Now its your turn. Please share your tips to handle situations like these. Post your tips in the comments box.
More reading:
Before you embark on saving sensitive stuff in spreadsheets, soak up some survival skills:
11 Responses to “Fix Incorrect Percentages with this Paste-Special Trick”
I've just taught yesterday to a colleague of mine how to convert amounts in local currency into another by pasting special the ROE.
great thing to know !!!
Chandoo - this is such a great trick and helps save time. If you don't use this shortcut, you have to take can create a formula where =(ref cell /100), copy that all the way down, covert it to a percentage and then copy/paste values to the original column. This does it all much faster. Nice job!
I was just asking peers yesterday if anyone know if an easy way to do this, I've been editing each cell and adding a % manually vs setting the cell to Percentage for months and just finally reached my wits end. What perfect timing! Thanks, great tip!
If it's just appearance you care about, another alternative is to use this custom number format:
0"%"
By adding the percent sign in quotes, it gets treated as text and won't do what you warned about here: "You can not just format the cells to % format either, excel shows 23 as 2300% then."
Dear Jon S. You are the reason I love the internet. 3 year old comments making my life easier.
Thank you.
Here is a quicker protocol.
Enter 10000% into the extra cell, copy this cell, select the range you need to convert to percentages, and use paste special > divide. Since the Paste > All option is selected, it not only divides by 10000% (i.e. 100), it also applies the % format to the cells being pasted on.
@Martin: That is another very good use of Divide / Multiply operations.
@Tony, @Jody: Thank you 🙂
@Jon S: Good one...
@Jon... now why didnt I think of that.. Excellent
Thank You so much. it is really helped me.
Big help...Thanks
Thanks. That really saved me a lot of time!
Is Show Formulas is turned on in the Formula Ribbon, it will stay in decimal form until that is turned off. Drove me batty for an hour until I just figured it out.