How to open a csv file without auto converion

[Guest]

I have a csv file with a text field enclosed with " ", the content of the
field is numeric but with leading 0s'.
When I Start MS Excel 2003 and then open the file, the field is converted to
numeric and causes the leading 0 being dropped.

 

[Guest]

You may want to record a macro while doing this the first time.

Do the data import 'manually' rather than double-clicking on the CSV file or
just choosing to open it from Excel. During the process you have the option
to define the type of data that a particular column is going to be imported
as. Work through the Data Import wizard until you get to that column and
tell it to treat it as text and not General or Numeric.

To get started: choose Data from the Excel menu, then Import External Data,
then Import Data. It will try to start you out in a place you probably don't
want to be - already defined data sources. first change the type of file(s)
to display to .csv and then just browse to locate the proper .csv file and
follow your nose from there.

 

[David Biddulph]

Change the extension from .csv to .txt, then the text import wizard will
allow you to specify the format of the relevant columns as text.