Predefined and custom number formats

Use number formats to define how a linked item should look in your report, regardless of Excel settings.

Best practice

Regional settings can be qused to display numbers in a different way in the presentation than they are displayed in Excel. For example if Excel uses German number formats with “,” as decimal separator and smartRush is set to English the number will be displayed using “.” as the decimal separator in the presentation, without changing the number format in Excel. Custom number formats provide a powerful way to adjust and finetune the format of any smartRush item in your presentation to perfectly fit your companies policies.

Predefined number formats

smartRush provides a number of predefined number formats for several variations of decimals and percentages. By default smartRush also offers several options to apply predefined factors to numbers. Whenever possible one of the predefined number formats should be selected.

If the country format is changed for a linked text item smartRush will apply the new country format for displaying the linked text item withpout changing the number format in the underlying Excel workbook. This can be very useful if reports are written in a foreign language.

Select a linked smartRush text item and open the smartRush taskbar. On the Format tab of the smartRush taskbar select Number. Here you can find several predefined number formats to format the linked text item. If Custom number format is selected from the dropdown menu additional controls for custom formatting are enabled.

Selecting custom number format on the Format tab
  • As shown in Excel: Display the number the same way it is displayed in Excel. If the number format changes in Excel it will also change in your report.
  • 0 decimals: Display the number using 0 decimals. 45.123 will become 45
  • 1 decimal: Display the number using 1 decimal. 45.123 will become 45.1
  • 2 decimals: Display the number using 2 decimals. 45.123 will become 45.12
  • Percentage, 0 decimals: Format the number as percentage with 0 decimals. 0.1234 will become 12%.
  • Percentage, 1 decimals: Format the number as percentage with 1 decimals. 0.1234 will become 12.3%.
  • Percentage, 2 decimals: Format the number as percentage with 2 decimals. 0.1234 will become 12.34%.
  • /1000, 0 decimals: Divide the number by 1000 and display it with 0 decimals. 1234.56 will become 1.
  • /1000, 1 decimal: Divide the number by 1000 and display it with 1 decimals. 1234.56 will become 1.2.
  • /1000, 2 decimals: Divide the number by 1000 and display it with 2 decimals. 1234.56 will become 1.23.
  • /1000000, 0 decimals: Divide the number by 1000000 and display it with 0 decimals. 1234123.56 will become 1.
  • /1000000, 1 decimal: Divide the number by 1000000 and display it with 1 decimals. 1234123.56 will become 1.2.
  • /1000000, 2 decimals: Divide the number by 1000000 and display it with 2 decimals. 1234123.56 will become 1.23.
  • Custom number format: See explanations below

Custom number format

Once the custom number format has been selected the format can be defined.

Custom number format
Three options are available at the top of the custom number format area:
  • Override group separator with custom setting: If this option is enabled smartRush will replace the system wide group separator for any given language with the custom group separator entered in the control below. If this option is not enabled smartRush will ignore the custom group separator and use the system wide group separator instead.
  • Override decimal separator with custom setting: If this option is enabled smartRush will replace the decimal separator of Excel with the custom decimal separator entered in the control below. If this option is not enabled smartRush will ignore the custom decimal separator and use the default Excel decimal separator. Note: The Excel decimal separator may either be the system wide decimal separator or any character entered in the Excel options.
  • Text if invalid number: If a text is entered in this textbox smartRush will replace any value that is not a valid number with this text. This means if for example a letter is entered in Excel in a cell where smartRush expects a number smartRush will display the text entered here instead of the letter.
The following options are available to configure the custom number format:
  • In general all settings are divided to Positive, Negative and Zero. Settings entered in the Positive column are applied to all numbers greater than 0, settings entered in the Negative column are applied to all numbers smaller than 0 and settings entered in the Zero column are applied to numbers equalling 0. Note, that not all settings are available for all of the three categories.
  • Group separator: If the group separator option mentioned above is enabled smartRush will replace the system wide group separator with the character entered here. Please note this option is not available for zero-values.
  • Decimal separator: If the decimal separator option mentioned above is enabled smartRush will replace the default decimal separator with the character entered here.
  • Decimals: The number entered here determines the number of decimals shown for the number
  • Round: If this option is enabled smartRush will round the displayed number to the number of decimals selected above
  • Prefix: If a text is entered in this cell this text will be displayed before the formatted number. This option may be used for currency indicators.
  • Suffix: If a text is entered in this cell this text will be displayed after the formatted number. This option may be used for currency indicators.
  • Fixed text: If a text is entered in this cell any number will be replaced by this text. This option may be used to display text like n/m or n/a if negative or zero values do not make sense.
  • Factor: Any number will be multiplied or divided by the factor selected in this cell
  • Leading zero: If this option is enabled the formatted number will display a leading zero if applicable. For example 1/3 would be shown as 0.33. If this option is not enabled the number would be shown as .33.

Please not that any custom number settings are only applied after the Apply button has been clicked.

Options to apply number formats to linked text items

Number formats can be applied in several different ways to linked text items. However the result is always the same, regardless of the way the linked text item has been applied. In general the following options are available to apply number formats. Please note that custom number formats are only available using the smartRush taskbar:

  • At insert using live insert: When using the live insert feature the format can be selected in the lower area of the dialog. Please note that Number has to be selected in the dropdown menu for Type in order to set the number format. All predefined number formats, including regional settings, are available here.
  • At insert using quick insert: When using the quick insert feature the format can be selected in the dropdown menu of the green Insert button at the top. Please note that selecting any format here will insert the linked text item, apply the format and close the dialog. All predefined number formats, including regional settings, are available here. Regional settings have to be set before hitting any of the format buttons.
  • At insert using the link library: When using the link library the format can be set in exactly the same way as when using quick insert. Just hit the dropdown menu next to the Insert button to see all format options.
  • At insert using the taskbar: When using the smartRush taskabr to insert a new item the format can be set in exactly the same way as when using quick insert. Just hit the dropdown menu next to the Insert button to see all format options.
  • Formatting via taskbar: Formatting a linked text item via the Format tab of the smartRush taskbar is the most comprehensive way to apply formats. This is the only place where custom formatting is available.
  • In-Place formatting: When selecting any linked text item in the report two buttons will appear below the item. Hit the Format button to display the format options. When selecting a format here it will immediately be applied to the linked item. Regional settings must be set befor selecting any of the formats.
  • Copying formats: Formats may be copied from one item to other items. Please see the help articel for Copying formats for further information.