XL: Custom Number Formats Lost When Saved as Lotus File

ID: Q97571

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 3.0, 4.0, 4.0a, 5.0, 5.0c
Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 5.0a
Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

When you save a worksheet in a Lotus 1-2-3 file format (WKS, WK1, WK3, WK4), and then open the file in Lotus 1-2-3, custom number formats may not be recognized by Lotus 1-2-3.

MORE INFORMATION

Although Lotus 1-2-3 uses the number formats listed in the following table, Lotus 1-2-3 is unable to recognize anything but the default number formats for a Microsoft Excel worksheet.

The following is a table of the Lotus 1-2-3 date and time formats.


   Date Formats                  Time Formats
   --------------------------------------------------------

   DD-MMM-YY                     HH:MM:SS AM/PM
   DD-MMM                        HH:MM AM/PM
   MMM-YY                        HH:MM:SS (default for long
   MM/DD/YY (default for long       international)
     international)              HH:MM (default for short
   MM/DD (default for short         international)
      international)

Lotus 1-2-3 also uses the following formats: fixed, scientific, currency, comma, percent (from 0 to 15 decimal places), general, +/-, text, hidden, automatic, and label.

REFERENCES

"Switching to Microsoft Excel from Lotus 1-2-3," pages 29-30
"Microsoft Excel Users Guide 1," version 4.0, pages 224-227

Additional query words: 98 97 4.00a 123 lotus123 export import XL98 XL97 XL7 XL5 XL4

Keywords : kb3rdparty xlformat
Version : WINDOWS:3.0,4.0,4.0a,5.0,5.0c,7.0,7.0a,97; MACINTOSH:3.0,4.0,4.0a,5.0,5.0a,98
Platform : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo