NUMBERVALUE in SoftMaker PlanMaker: Parse Decimal and Thousands Separators

Use NUMBERVALUE when combining CSV or spreadsheet exports from different regional number formats: 1.234,50 may mean one thousand two hundred thirty-four and a half in one locale, while another locale expects 1,234.50. Inspect original separators before conversion, and keep the text source available for audit. A numeric output can then be used in sums or comparisons.

=NUMBERVALUE(Text [, DecimalSeparator] [, GroupSeparator])

The order is Text → decimal → group; reversing the last two silently changes the interpretation or causes an error. Brackets in vendor documentation indicate optional arguments and must not be typed. When separator strings contain several characters, SoftMaker documents that only the first is used. If both provided separators are the same, PlanMaker documents #VALUE!. If only the decimal separator is specified, the group separator remains based on current locale. Vendor rules.

In a blank sheet, put the text content from the following table into A2:A7. To force text rather than let the app parse it immediately, type the A-column formula ="..." shown in the second column. In B2 use =NUMBERVALUE(A2,",",".") and fill down through B7.

For rows 2–4, the sum of the expected numeric outputs is 3274.75, verified with decimal arithmetic. The % row intentionally represents a proportion; do not include it in a raw currency total. These are documentation-derived and independently calculated expected outputs, not results observed in an installed PlanMaker instance. Unquoted decimal text may be imported as a date or number before this function ever sees it, which is why each A cell is a text-producing formula.

Advanced: reversed separators and ambiguity

Compare these vendor-documented forms:

=NUMBERVALUE("42.000,44",",",".")    // expected 42000.44
=NUMBERVALUE("42,000.44",",",".")    // expected #VALUE!
=NUMBERVALUE("42%")                   // vendor expects 0.42 for English example
=NUMBERVALUE("42%%")                  // vendor expects 0.0042

The // comments above are annotations, not valid parts of a PlanMaker formula: type only the formula to the closing parenthesis. The percent examples are vendor-documented, but the omitted-separator cases depend on the language/regional settings; verify them on the target installation. Multiple percent signs successively divide by 100 according to the manual.

Advanced: preparing numeric data without losing display units

Do not feed "42,44 mm" directly into NUMBERVALUE and expect it to strip the letters. The official documentation instructs users to separate the numeric data ("42,44") from the unit and use cell formatting to display units. With =NUMBERVALUE("42,44",",","."), the expected numeric result is 42.44. Apply a suitable custom display number format for units if necessary; that is different from changing the cell into text. Exact custom-format syntax should be verified separately for your formatting policy and locale. Official handling of unit-bearing text.

• Same separators: =NUMBERVALUE("3,5",",",",") is documented to return #VALUE!.
• Two decimal separators: "3,5,2" with comma as decimal separator is documented to fail.
• Decimal appears before a group separator: the manual documents an error; first check whether you selected the delimiters in the right order.
• Empty text: the manual explicitly returns 0 for an empty Text argument (""), which can mask missing data in an import if not separately flagged.
• Whitespace: internal space characters are ignored as documented; do not treat this as automatic validation of every Unicode whitespace character, which remains untested.
• Other text: an arbitrary appended unit such as kg will not necessarily be a valid number and should not silently be removed.
• Unexpected result without separator arguments: the current locale is then in control. For cross-region CSVs, pass both separators explicitly.
• Displayed decimals: numeric output formatting may hide digits without changing stored numeric value. Do not rely on visible display alone.

The official PlanMaker 2026/NX and 2024 English manuals both document NUMBERVALUE(Text [, DecimalSeparator] [, GroupSeparator]) and the detailed failure cases. A 2021-specific function reference was not independently retrievable for this run, so 2021 function availability remains unverified here; we are not asserting first introduction. The vendor says Excel gained its counterpart in Excel 2013; this is a compatibility remark about Excel, not PlanMaker’s introduction year. Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS edition/runtime differences and .xlsx interchange remain native-untested. In Microsoft Excel, verify locale separator behavior on representative data rather than assume every parser edge case is identical. The official companion is PlanMaker VALUE, which lacks explicit separators.

• PlanMaker 2026 NUMBERVALUE, exact syntax/optional defaults/errors/percentages: accessed 2026-10-11 UTC.
• PlanMaker 2024 NUMBERVALUE, matching signature/rules, accessed 2026-10-11 UTC.
• PlanMaker 2026 VALUE, related one-argument parser, accessed 2026-10-11 UTC.
• PlanMaker formula basics, leading equal sign and cell references, accessed 2026-10-11 UTC.

Validation: Official documentation and independent base-10 arithmetic. Observed native PlanMaker tests: 0; edition-level tests: 0; cross-application executions: 0.