auto populating comma seperated data in one cell to multiple cells

[guyvanzyl]

I want to be able to copy a csv file into a single cell in an excel
spreadsheet. I then want to apply a formula to various cells which
result those cells being automatically populated with relevant data
from the csv file when I paste it. The formula needs to take into
account that the relevant field in the csv file could be empty or could
have 1+ chars.

The reason I want to do this is that in the future when I run data
extracts, I can check the contents of the csv file by pasting it into a
spreadsheet I have set up with all the database tables and column names
in it.

I hope this makes sense. Your help will be much appreciated.

 

[Dave Peterson]

Rename your .csv file to .txt.

Then do File|Open and point at that .txt file.

Instead of going through the wizard, hit and hold the shift key while clicking
ok.

This'll put all the data in a single column -- not a single cell.

Then you can copy|paste that data to its real home.

And you may have to modify your formulas so that they check the length of that
value in that cell in the column.

=if(len(a1)=0,"",yourformulahere)

But that's just a sample. It'll depend on what your formulas are.