XLSX ingestion: integers are converted to decimal numbers
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@pizofreude is already working on this.
Since Oct 14, 2025.
Original size: 10
Type: Bug
- Dominant language
- Java
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Description
Bug description
This follows a discussion in the Google Group Dataverse:
https://groups.google.com/g/dataverse-community/c/75OO7gDNpsw/
When ingesting an XLSX file, any non-zero numeric value is always interpreted as a decimal number.
This results in integers being automatically converted into decimals:
2→2.0-2→-2.02.5→2.5
This behavior can be problematic in some use cases (e.g., phone numbers, street numbers).
Notes:
- This issue does not occur when ingesting a CSV file, where integers remain integers.
- Reproducible example dataset: test dataset.
Steps to reproduce
- Create an XLSX file containing a column with integer values.
- Ingest into Dataverse.
- Observe that all integers are converted into decimals.
Expected behavior
- Keep integers as integers during ingestion unless a decimal value is explicitly present.
2→2-2→-22.5→2.5
Impact
- Incorrect data representation in business contexts.
- Inconsistency between XLSX ingestion and CSV ingestion.
Affected versions
- All versions of Dataverse
Help is always welcome, is this bug something you or your organization plan to fix?
- This is not currently planned by the team.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Assessment
This issue has not been assessed yet.