In Microsoft Excel, you may notice that when downloading reports from our site, your numbers may look slightly different from what you expected. For example, Excel can automatically add a + sign or it will round decimals. This usually occurs because of the column’s formatting.
Here’s how you can fix it:
You can quickly correct this by changing the column’s format:
Click the column header to highlight the entire column.
Locate the dropdown box that says "General" in the toolbar.
Select "Text" from the dropdown list.
The formatting will update immediately, and your numbers will display correctly.
Why does this happen?
This happens because Excel automatically formats certain cells as numbers or formulas. Setting the column to Text tells Excel to display the value exactly as it is intended. This prevents automatic adjustments, such as added symbols or decimal shifts.