Claudio - could you sent us a (small) random-sampled and possibly scrambled copy of the file you are trying to export? Are you using a green Data file Output block in DataManager to manage the export? Which Writer do you have selected in the Data File Output block, Excel Direct or Omniscope?

Your questions and my answers:

could you sent us a (small) random-sampled and possibly scrambled copy of the file you are trying to export?
--- Not very easy to do without rebuilding the query. I would prefer to send you the original iok file via email.
Are you using a green Data file Output block in DataManager to manage the export?
--- yes
Which Writer do you have selected in the Data File Output block, Excel Direct or Omniscope?
--- Excel 2007

In Omniscope 2.8 you can choose which writer to use (Excel or Omniscope) and in Omniscope 2.7 it's automatic.
You can try first to export CSV format, which Excel will read and auto-convert numbers.

Alternatively, we can give you access to 2.8 Alpha so you can compare the two writers.

May I ask you if this is a known behavior?
In other words, it is happening only to me or also other users are experiencing a similar problem?

In my opinion this is a bug.
I have defined a very simple test based on the following files:
1) Visokio test.iok (read an excel file and write an excel file simply passing the data without any manipulation)
2) Visokio Input.xlsx (the input file with text, numbers and date)
3) Visokio output.xlsx (the output file in which the numbers are left aligned)
4) Visokio output.csv ( the output file in which the numbers are correctly represented)

What's wrong in my Visokio test.iok file?

Thanks

Hi,

I've just done a quick test with your file in Omniscope 2.8. The Excel direct writer does preserve the formatting, the Omniscope writer does not. You should use the Excel direct writer in this case, however you can only use this if you have Excel installed and you are running on Windows.

Unfortunately with the Omniscope writer there may be differences in the formatting of values when the Excel file is created. This is because we are not using Excel to write the data, so certain things such as the formatting may not be preserved.

In Omniscope 2.7 this is managed automatically.

I forgot to mention that I'm using Visokio Omniscope Desktop 2.7 build 459 on MacBook Pro running OSX 10.8.2 with Microsoft Excel 2011 for Mac version 14.2.5

Honestly I don't understand what do you suggest me to do. Migrate to 2.8?

Thanks

Hi,

Unfortunately if you are using a Mac then Omniscope will always use the "Omniscope" Excel writer. This means that you will loose the formatting as described. If you were running on Windows then you would have the option to use the "Microsoft" Excel writer. This WOULD preserve the formatting.

As mentioned before, using the Excel writer means that certain formatting will be lost. We will investigate this particular issue to see if it is possible to resolve this problem, but it may not be possible.

Thank you Chris

I didn't realize, until your last comment, that it was possible to generate an Excel file using two different "writer". Probably because I don't have such an option on a Mac.

This make me happy because we are going to produce the production files on a Windows machine.

Thank you for you patience.