Ubuntu
openoffice.org package

  1. Bug #210153
  2. Comment #8

Comment 8 for bug 210153

Revision history for this message
Michael Devenish (mdevenish) wrote : Re: [ooo-build] [hardy] calc: sum show err:529

I've noticed a similar error when opening an excel file in OOo 2.4 (ubuntu). Excel seems to try and convert text to a value automatically when a mathematical formula is applied to a cell which contains a text value.

In the attached sample excel file, the text value "1" in cell A2 is added to the numerical value 2 in cell A3 and the result displayed in cell A4. In excel the value in cell A4 is '3'. In OOo 2.3 the result is '2' since the text value in cell A2 is treated as zero. In OOo 2.4 (ubuntu) the result in cell A4 is 'Err:529'. If the Value() function is applied to the value in cell A2 the result is '3' as expected. The official (sun) builds of OOo 2.4 and OOo3devM7 both display '2' in cell A4.

This error could be confusing for those switching from excel. I think it would be helpful if OOo was to attempt to automatically apply the value() function to text, although it is more strictly correct to display the error.

I'll file an upstream bug on the main OOo site, if something similar hasn't already been reported.