Imported numbers convert to exponents

[mpreston14]

Hi,

I am importing, well cutting and pasting, into a table that will contain registration data. Each entry is based of a unique registration number. When I paste them into the table they convert to scientific notation....well most do some do not:

USSFID	Lname	Fname	Mname	Gener	DOB	Grade	Town	State	Zip
50606104629530
50615092918430
2.00604307358451E+15
2.00604307445797E+15

the two in the example above that converted should be:

2006043073584510

2006043074457970

Thoughts?

[pbaldy]

Have you tried making the field text instead a numeric data type?

[mpreston14]

yes, it still does the same thing.

[pbaldy]

Sorry, I can't replicate the problem. I can paste your values above directly into a table or a form based on the table. Is there something you're doing other than pasting that value in?

[mpreston14]

They were in scientific notation in excel, I converted them to a number, I just put them in a text document and copied them from there, they pasted fine...no clue why this is happening...

[pbaldy]

Sorry, I can't either and like I said I can't replicate it. If you want to post your db and text document I can try with your setup instead of mine.

[CJ_London]

this number

2006043073584510

is too big for a double (let alone a long). It is 16 characters long, whilst 50606104629530 is only 14 characters long. The maximum precision is 15 characters. You need to change your field type to either text or decimal.

I'm a bit concerned that all your examples end in 0 - I have worked with very large numbers myself and this is an indication that the value is being truncated i.e. both

2006043073584511
2006043073584512

will translate to

2006043073584510

If you have these numbers in excel and they are numeric as opposed to text, Excel also has the same limits on number size so I would go back to the original source and make sure you do end up with a complete number.

[Perceptus]

Looks like Excel is assuming the column is a number. Have you tried explicitly setting the column that contains this data to format as text?

[ItsMe]

Are you pasting into Excel? Have you tried adjusting the width of the collumn?

[CJ_London]

looks like the OP has gone away, no response for a week, although post #5 implies he has a solution