Opening .csv files in excel

[fwhipple20]

I receive a .csv file every month and i can never open it without the format of the document getting all messed up. If the person sending the document saves it as a .xls file then i can open it perfectly, is there anyway once the file has been sent as a .csv that i can open it cleanly in Excel 2000.

 

[Jak]

Hi fwhipple20

You say you receive CSV files and want to open them in Excel 2K without a fuss. Can you clarify what you mean i.e. does the data look like Jak,@,MrExcel and you want it to look like Jak @ MrExcel so that each field is in a seperate column?

Let me know.

 

[ascalese]

There are 2 methods that you will encounter when opening a CSV file: fixed width and delimited. Almost always in my experience you will need to use delimited methods. The wizard will open when you try to open the csv file. Select demilited and click next. The next page is where you specify the delimiter (i.e., the thing that seperates each field in the file) Often times it's a comma, tab, or some form of single or double quotes. You can usually determine by looking at the sample in the wizard box. After selecting the appropriate delimiter, click finish. You should have a clean import. Be sure to save the file as an XLS

 

[PaddyD]

change the extension from csv to txt - if you have a csv file, excel thinks it knows what to do with it & bypasses some of the formatting / input options in the text to cols process.

 

[ThePencilQueen]

Or try to stop the person creating the file from using commas within cells...ask them to use some bizzare character instead and then do a quick find and replace to put the commas back after you open it.

If they can't prevent using commas in the first place get them to do the find and replace bit before saving it as a csv.