Advice and answers from the ScanUnlimited Team

Product ids may become formatted as scientific notation when saving a file within various spreadsheet software, especially when saving as a CSV.

If the file you are trying to upload has product ids formatted as scientific notation, you will receive the following error:

Format Product Ids

Here’s how to fix the error:

Using Excel

1. Open the file.

2. Highlight the column containing the product id columns.

3. Right-click the selected cells and click “format cells”.

4. Click “Custom” under category.

5. Change the text “General” to one of the following, depending on the product id type:

UPC – “000000000000”

EAN – “0000000000000”

ISBN-10 – “0000000000”

ISBN-13 – “0000000000000”

6. Save your file in Excel or CSV format.

Using Google Sheets

1. Upload your file to Google Sheets.
2. Highlight the column containing the product id columns.
3. Click “Format” on the menu bar.
4. Click “Number” > “More Formats” > “Custom number format”
5. Type one of the following, depending on the product id type:
   UPC – “000000000000”
   EAN – “0000000000000”
   ISBN-10 – “0000000000”
   ISBN-13 – “0000000000000”
6. Click “Apply”.
7. Click “File” on the menu bar.
8. Click “Download” then choose the file format, we highly recommend the CSV format.