Keeping Numbers, Percentages, and Currency Correct in Google Sheets
Percentages, currency symbols, and thousands separators decide whether a pasted column is a number you can chart or text you cannot. Here is how each is handled.
Direct answer
A value arrives as text when Sheets cannot parse it as a number, and you can spot it instantly because text is left-aligned while numbers are right-aligned. Currency symbols, thousands separators, accounting parentheses, and trailing percent signs are all recognised during conversion, so figures land as real numbers that SUM, AVERAGE, and charts can use.
Open Markdown to Google Sheets converterWhen to use this
- SUM over a pasted column returns 0.
- A percentage column will not chart.
- Values are left-aligned when they should be right-aligned.
Steps
- Paste the Markdown table into the converter.
- Check the grid preview — values recognised as numbers are right-aligned there.
- Press Copy for Sheets and paste into the spreadsheet.
- Confirm the numeric columns are right-aligned in Sheets.
- Apply Format → Number → Percent or Currency for display; the underlying value is already numeric.
Example conversion
| Team | Budget | Spent | Utilisation | | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | | Platform | $240,000 | $198,400 | 82.7% | | Growth | $120,000 | $131,200 | 109.3% | | Data | $86,000 | $61,900 | 72.0% |
Team Budget Spent Utilisation Platform $240,000 $198,400 82.7% Growth $120,000 $131,200 109.3% Data $86,000 $61,900 72.0%
Common mistakes
- Do not fix text-formatted numbers with Format → Number; changing the display format does not convert the contents of a text cell.
- Do not forget that a percentage is stored as its decimal ratio — 82.7% is the value 0.827 with percent formatting applied.
- Do not paste currency values into a column you later want to chart without checking that the symbol did not survive into the value.
FAQ
- How is a percentage handled?
- 82.7% converts to the numeric value 0.827. That is how every spreadsheet stores percentages internally — the percent sign is display formatting, not part of the number.
- What happens to currency symbols?
- A leading $, £, €, or ¥ is stripped so the value is numeric. Apply currency formatting in Sheets afterwards for display.
- Are accounting negatives recognised?
- Yes. A value written as (1,200) is treated as -1200, which is the accounting convention for a negative.
- What about dates?
- Dates pass through as text and Sheets applies its own detection, which respects your locale. Guessing the format during conversion would be wrong more often than it would be right.
Related Sheets guides
How to Paste a Markdown Table Into Google Sheets
Google Sheets puts a pasted Markdown table into a single column of pipe characters. Convert it to tab-separated values and every cell lands where it belongs.
Why a Markdown Table Pastes Into One Cell in Google Sheets
Sheets splits pasted text on tab characters. Markdown separates columns with pipes, so there is nothing to split on and the row stays in a single cell.
How to Get a ChatGPT Table Into Google Sheets
ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini answer with Markdown pipe tables. Convert one to tab-separated values and it lands in Sheets as a real grid.
How to Import a Markdown Table Into Google Sheets as CSV
When pasting is unreliable — a locked-down browser, a mobile device, or a very large table — download the table as CSV and import the file instead.