diff --git a/components/fpspreadsheet/fpsnumformatparser.pas b/components/fpspreadsheet/fpsnumformatparser.pas
index 3c463bc11..b755fb94b 100644
--- a/components/fpspreadsheet/fpsnumformatparser.pas
+++ b/components/fpspreadsheet/fpsnumformatparser.pas
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ var
 begin
   FStatus := psOK;
   AddSection;
-  if AFormatString = '' then
+  if (AFormatString = '') or (lowercase(AFormatString) = 'general') then
     exit;
 
   FStart := @AFormatString[1];
diff --git a/components/fpspreadsheet/fpspreadsheet.pas b/components/fpspreadsheet/fpspreadsheet.pas
index 6a76b6319..9776d0f49 100755
--- a/components/fpspreadsheet/fpspreadsheet.pas
+++ b/components/fpspreadsheet/fpspreadsheet.pas
@@ -3234,7 +3234,8 @@ begin
     fmt := lFormatData.FormatString;
   end else
     fmt := AFormatString;
-  nf := nfGeneral;  // not used here.
+
+  nf := nfGeneral;
 
   // Analyzes the format string and tries to convert it to fpSpreadsheet format.
   parser := TsNumFormatParser.Create(Workbook, fmt, nf, cdToFPSpreadsheet);