Tablora · Library
Normalize one trailing-minus amount
Some exports write negatives as 125.00- with the sign at the end. The normalizer moves one trailing minus to the front and holds anything else.
Where trailing minus signs come from
Older banking systems, ERP reports and mainframe exports often print the sign after the digits: 125.00- for a debit or a negative balance. Most spreadsheets read that value as text, so it is left out of sums, or someone types it again without the sign and the amount turns positive.
The numeric normalizer supports a single trailing minus. It removes the sign from the end and writes the amount with a leading minus instead. The sign has to be the last character of the value, directly after the digits.
A Unicode minus sign or an en dash in that position is accepted too, because the normalizer turns both into an ordinary hyphen-minus before it looks at signs. Documents produced by typesetting software often use those characters.
Normalizing 125.00-
With Decimal separator . and Grouping separator comma, the source value 125.00- becomes -125.00. The fraction keeps both digits. A grouped value such as 1,250.00- would become -1250.00 under the same settings.
A space between the digits and the sign, as in 125.00 -, is not accepted. That value is held under Values left for review with its original text. Remove the space in your copy if the source confirms it is one amount.
Steps for a column with trailing signs
- Look at the full source value, including the last character, to confirm the sign is at the end.
- Paste the table, choose the Delimiter and select the amount column in Number column.
- Set the separators to match the digits and press Calculate.
- Check that every value that ended in a minus now starts with one.
- Look at Values left for review for values with spaces before the sign or with a second sign marker.
Combinations that are held back
- A value with a minus at both ends, or with a trailing minus inside parentheses, is held for review rather than toggled back to positive.
- A trailing minus combined with a DR or CR suffix is also held, because the suffix is itself a sign marker.
- Download (CSV) adds an apostrophe before cells that start with a minus, so the converted -125.00 appears as '-125.00 in the file. Remove the prefix or convert the column in your spreadsheet if you need numbers there.
- In the Tablora app, the XLSX export also reads a trailing minus as negative in columns it treats as numbers. Because a minus is small, check amber cells and the end of each amount against the Source · page view before exporting.
Original synthetic example
- Source value
- 125.00-
- Decimal separator
- .
- Grouping separator
- ,
- Expected outcome
- Normalized amount: -125.00