If you are checking out this article because you are trying to create an accurate CSV in Excel, look at the bottom of the article for steps to preventing Excel from formatting your part numbers in scientific notation.

The problem

Excel tries to guess how it should format the data that you give it and sometimes it doesn't get it quite right. If you have ever seen quote part numbers in D3M that look like: 1.77829E+18. You have run into this issue with Excel. 

The problem is that when Excel encounters a long number, 1778288399288170000, it will default to showing it in scientific notation. When you export it out of Excel and import it into D3M, the data will stay in that format throughout the whole process, causing that data that you import into D3M to be incorrect.

How to prevent Excel from formatting your part numbers

When you are creating a parts list in Excel to upload into D3M, you can prevent Excel from formatting your part numbers in scientific notation. Here's how once you have all the data in Excel.

  1. Click the header of the price column to select the entire column.

  2. In the toolbar, look for the Number settings with a dropdown that has General selected.

  3. Change the dropdown to select Number.

  4. Your affected part numbers should no longer be in scientific notation, but will still have a decimal and two zeros on the end.

  5. Using the number settings, find the button labeled Decrease Decimal and click it twice.

  6. Now export the sheet as CSV and upload it into D3M. You should no longer be able to find any quote parts when searching for e\+

How to fix parts you have already uploaded

If you have already uploaded quote parts you can check how many parts in your price book are affected by going to the Quote Management page in D3M.

Then in the search box, type e\+ to find all the affected parts.

Here you can fix each of the affected quote parts by simply clicking on the bad part number to edit it and typing in the correct number.

If your list of affected quote parts is long and you have access to the original excel sheet that you used to create a CSV to upload to D3M, then you might try removing all your quote parts from D3M and following the steps below to reimport your parts list properly.

Need some extra help

If you have any problems following these instructions, please reach out using the chat button in the bottom right corner. We would be happy to walk you through getting things fixed.

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