Comments on: How To Import a CSV File Containing a Column With a Leading 0 Into Excel

By: tapas

tapas — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:07:48 +0000

i still can’t solve my problem,
its same
can,t open my .csv excel files in office 2007.

By: husker

husker — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:58:37 +0000

Jim’s option is really simple when compared to other solutions out there and worked… thanks

By: Vivek

Vivek — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:02:57 +0000

Jim’s option worked for me. No need to manipulate the file later.

Thanks

By: Anon

Anon — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:46:48 +0000

Thanks

By: andrew marshall

andrew marshall — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:46:41 +0000

when importing part number from a csv file some number cotaining E
eg 977012e000 when importing into excel 2007 the number end up looking like 9770+e can you please advise me how to fix this as every part number containing e is treated the same way.

By: Prathap

Prathap — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:53:25 +0000

Thanks all. This helped to solve my problem.

By: Paul F

Paul F — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:51:44 +0000

Thanks much. This page helped me a lot — exactly the info I was looking for.

By: Erin T

Erin T — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:13:33 +0000

Thank you! I was really struggling with this and appreciate the easy to follow instructions. My problem is solved!

By: Jim Millard

Jim Millard — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:42:44 +0000

A third alternative, assuming you have control over the creation of the CSV, is to export the “SpecialID” field as a formula, e.g., instead of exporting (0001), export (=”0001″). That forces the value to be evaluated as text, as Excel evaluates the field as a text formula.

By: Mikey Mac

Mikey Mac — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 08:39:43 +0000

Another way to do this – especially if the column is of a fixed umber of chars like “SpecialID” above – you simply highlight the column or cells you want to fix, right-click, Format Cells…, click Custom on the Number tab, and type four zeros (or however many chars the field should be) and click OK. Excel will automatically pad the field with leading zeros.

The bonus to this method is that you can still do calculations with the number without having to use complex formulas to convert the text “number” into a real number.