Export to Excel with Decimal Reformatting

[Tobias_Troendle]

Hi there!
I am looking for a solution how to export my Airtables to Excel (or csv) and change the number format at the same time. Example: I have a column with prices and they’re displayed in the format $1,000.00 but I need them in the format $1.000,00 as I am in Europe where this format is more common. Is there any chance to get Airtable and or Zapier to do that?
Cheers, Tobi

[Justin_Barrett]

Welcome to the community, Tobias! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: Zapier has a formatting module called “Formatter by Zapier” that you can add to your zaps. It has currency, date, text, and a few other special-purpose formatters included.

[Bill_French]

@Tobias_Troendle

Tobias_Troendle:

and change the number format at the same time

Isn’t this an integrated feature in Excel? Couldn’t you write a script in the target Excel sheet to make the conversion if – and only if – the data arrives in the US decimal format?

[Tobias_Troendle]

Thanks guys!

Bill.French:

Isn’t this an integrated feature in Excel?

Yes it definitely is and I can solve that manually, but I would like to have an automated solution, that stores/publishes an Excel file every day with the updated data each day so that my colleagues who don’t know how to change it in Excel can just download a file. (sorry that wasn’t specified in my initial post)

Justin_Barrett:

Zapier has a formatting module called “Formatter by Zapier”

This definitely works well for small amounts of data, I’ll test today how it does with approx. 4.000 lines :winking_face:

I might have found another solution in a tool called parabola, which I’ll test today. I’ll let you guys know if it works :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:

[Bill_French]

Tobias_Troendle:

I would like to have an automated solution

I understand. I wasn’t clear in my suggestion.

Excel (as you likely know) has an integrated scripting architecture that includes event handlers. The Workbook.Open event is able to fire when your target export sheet is opened by your users. Using this event handler, you could easily test the data and if improperly formatted, reformat it on-the-fly. No additional services or exposure of the data to third parties.

In the world of integration there’s an axiom I like to embrace - the closer data transformations can occur to the consumption point, the less brittle and more sustainable the solution will be.

By having Excel be responsible for data formatting at the edge, you eliminate middle-ware transformations which tend to lower costs and certainly complexity.

[Bill_French]

Tobias_Troendle:

a tool called parabola

BTW - I’m a fan of parabola.io and it’s architecture. A bit pricey in production, but very well designed and implemented. The visual design layer is among the best in the industry and likely to be very competitive to Zapier and Integromat if they can establish a winning pricing model.

[GavinA]

Maybe the option discussing transforming data in this guide could help:

https://www.csvgetter.com/blog/export-airtable-to-excel