Why is there a green triangle in the cell?
A green triangle in the upper-left corner of a cell in a spreadsheet indicates that the value in the cell is in plain text format.
For example, when you enter a number in a cell in plain text format and then change its format to a number format, a green triangle will appear in the upper-left corner of the cell. A green triangle will also appear if the number you entered exceeds 15 digits.
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What impact does a green triangle have on the cell?
The green triangle indicates the value in the cell is in plain text format, and has no properties of a number. Plain text format here isn't referring to the selected format in the format box, but that the value itself has no properties of a number. Like plain text, the value is aligned left and cannot be used in formulas as a number.
How can I convert a cell with a green triangle into one without it?
Select the cell(s) with the green triangle, click the Info icon, then click Convert to number. Make sure the first cell has a green triangle if you're converting multiple cells at once.
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After converting a green triangle cell with long numbers, why isn't the number displayed in its entirety?
If the value in the cell exceeds 15 digits, a green triangle will appear in the cell. When you convert this value to a number format, the value will be displayed in scientific notation, so not all the digits will be displayed. For example, when you convert a green triangle cell with the number 123456789123456789 (18 digits in total) to number format, the number will be displayed as 1.23457E+17.
If you need to show all the digits for long numbers, we recommend keeping the value in plain text format.
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