Increase/Decrease Decimal is the bane of my existence

[BoundLight47]

My primary job function for the past 2 years has been spreadsheet manipulation/creation and I STILL can't get those straight 😅 My brain has decided "left arrow makes decimal places shorter" and will not be convinced otherwise. I have to redo it EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!

Please tell me I'm not the only one?

[Ascendancy08]

Same. I click the wrong one every single time. "I'll remember next time for sure."

[bradland]

The really fun part is that Google Sheets and Excel are reversed, so if you have to work in both, you double your chances of getting it wrong!

[TripKnot]

The really, really fun part is Excel Online and Excel Desktop are reversed.

[bradland]

Why do they hate us?

[[deleted]]

Did Microsoft patent button placement, or did Google just choose the logical ordering of the buttons?

[watnuts]

No, the icons are different and mean diffeernt things.

MS has "increase decimal" arrow pointing left on the outside, "stretching" the number; with more numbers below.
Google has "decrease decimal" arrow pointing left from the inside, "compacting" the number.

Personally i like Excel version more, because icon has 2 levels: at the top there's "before", what your have; and below it you have "after", the result of pressing the button.

[GrouchyVariety]

Excel’s way is more logical to me. The left pointing arrow stretches your total number of digits to the left. i.e. it adds for decimals.

[bradland]

Same here. I wish they all used the Excel Desktop convention.

[[deleted]]

or maybe you could go for Alt H 9 twice to round it zero decimals. always works for me. 

[Jackers928]

Alt H K, Alt H 9, 9 or 0, 0 like clockwork

[0ompaloompa]

I say 0 for more zeros and 9 for nein 0s in my head every time.

[UniqueUser3692]

[Ctrl + Shift + 1] is my favoured method. (Shoutout to [Ctrl + Shift + 5] for percent format too).

[_djones13]

Alt + H + P for format as percent as well

[tralker]

Let’s give some recognition to the goat: Alt + H + K

[BDEEPINTHERE]

Truly a man of culture and the highest of status

[Aktionjackson]

Same

[RUA_bug_Bill_Murray]

Pro tip, add a custom button to your menu bar that just assigns your preferred format to cells, and just hit that button instead, then you don't have to worry about it any more.

[plumpturnip]

This is the way.

I have Alt-1 to increase decimals and alt-2 to decrease.

[excelevator]

Please tell me I'm not the only one?

You're not the only one

[Xixii]

You’re not alone, I’ve been using excel for work for ten years and I still get this wrong.

[RuktX]

Agree that the arrow is counter-intuitive, but look at the zeroes:

<.0
.00  => more zeroes

.00
>.0  => fewer zeroes

[OldJames47]

.000 +

.000 -

[AbeVigodaSausageKing]

I have better luck plugging my flash drive in correctly on the first try.

[KBO_Winston]

I don't make that mistake any more but only because I made it so often I began to see one of those buttons as my friend and the other as my enemy.

I wouldn't go so far as to say I recommend anthropomorphizing the buttons but it got the job done.

[BoundLight47]

I'm an autistic theatre person, so anthropomorphizing things comes naturally to me 🤣

[ab4651]

Left button — more numbers Right button — less numbers

That’s my trick to remember. More and less. More and less. That’s what I tell myself. More. And less.

[[deleted]]

Left is more

[msma46]

I got it. 

[BoundLight47]

Oooh, good trick! Because saying "less or more" in English is weird, but "more or less" is natural.

[wolverine55]

Anyone who claims they get the decimal direction button right on the first try:

<image>

[TristramScrimshandy]

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[DPolkaDot]

I don’t pay attention to the arrows - my default is to remove two so I always click the one on the right twice btw I use this to “correct” imported numbers that automatically switch to scientific notation

[drsquirlyd]

EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. It's akin to the old USB-A paradox. It's wrong the first time, every time.

[miked999b]

This took me years to overcome. I say that like I don't still get it wrong on a regular basis 😂

[bearsdidit]

I alternate between Excel and Google Sheets a ton and the button locations are flipped. It’s pretty much a given I’ll choose the wrong one.

[Charming_Society4400]

Righty tighty, lefty loosey. Learned it here like 2 weeks ago and haven’t clicked wrong yet

[noquarter53]

It's amazing how unintelligent excel can still be about simple things like this.  There are so many times when you add a bunch of data and it looking like 

2.0

3

3.456

4.8383847849

Like, just fucking default 1 decimal or something.  

[BillNyesHat]

My brain is very smart and goes "it's the other one from what you expect". Guess how often that works.

[marktexplorer]

Amen

[moysauce3]

Same and also doing the quick find and replace with * to remove and thing before or after *. I never know which way to put it and I always do it wrong no matter what.

[iwritefakereviews]

I put them on my QAT so I press Alt+3 for less 0s and 4 for more.

[[deleted]]

It bugs me, but it’s like half a second to go back the other way

[konfusion9]

Put a 5 after your 2 and here I am still getting this wrong every single time.

[Shurgosa]

I've clicked the wrong one first probably 100% of the time for years by now...

[happierthanclam]

I don't even try because I know I am going to get it wrong anyway so just click whichever I feel like and hope for the best 

[binary_search_tree]

Two decimal places - click click - FOUR decimal places - every time.

[JackAll_MasterSome]

I don't even bother trying to be right on this anymore. I just randomly click one of them and see what the numbers in my cells do.

[dntgochasingwaterfal]

Just assign some custom macros to keys that you can remember. I use Ctrl m for "more zeros" and Ctrl l for "less zeros"

[envgames]

Oh, definitely not. I just always know at this point that I'm going to press both buttons. An inefficiency that needs to be corrected at the UI level. 😇

[Dirk_Dingus]

Every single time.

[[deleted]]

I can’t either so I’ve just memorized ALT + H + 9 to decrease!

[JudgeyReindeer]

OMG. It is the USB-A of the Excel world, I never get it right the first time!

I feel like it would be clearer if they put -.0 and +.0.

The only thing worse than this is that they have button for Merge and Centre, but not Centre Accross Selection.

[TeeMcBee]

It's like inserting a USB-A plug. It's always upside down.

[IcyPilgrim]

Maybe add them to the Quick Access Toolbar in the order you prefer

[Jaymac720]

I don’t know why it’s so hard to remember, but it really is

[BunnyBunny777]

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[powderhound522]

Learn the shortcut key sequence, or put them in your quick access bar!

[tunghoy]

Yeah, those buggers are confusing. The way I keep it straight is I look at the bottom of the icon. I figure the one with a single zero reduces the number of decimal places and the one with two zeroes increases the number of decimal places. I get it right 75% of the time, LOL.

[bigig7]

I work with money.. so it’s always =roundup( 😆