To avoid formatting change on CSV, you first need to set data format manually. In previous Excel versions, you can use the Text Import Wizard with text strings. Excel will import the column as General if the conversion could yield. To convert a column of all date characters, each date in the order of year, month, and day, to the Excel Date format, select Date, and then select the date type of YMD in the Date box.

You will see your data without any changes to formatting. To convert a column of all number characters to the Excel Text format, select Text.

On the next page, make sure that Comma is the only checkbox selected. When the Text Wizard dialog opens, follow these steps to parse the CSV: Make sure that Delimited is selected and then click Next. Browse to the location of 'sheet1.csv' and select the file.

Or, use Transform button to open Power Query Editor and modify your data before parsing Instead, open Excel and go to File > Open.

Click From Text/CSV in the Get & Transform Data section.

Microsoft 365 or Excel 2019Īvoiding formatting change on CSV on Microsoft 365 or Excel 2019 is fairly easy. The newer versions detect the data automatically. You do not need to select anything if you have a Microsoft 365 subscription or Excel 2019. By importing the data, you will gain the ability to select the data type before parsing it. You need to import the data in the CSV file. If you need to prevent numbers from changing into dates when entering data, please see How to stop excel from changing numbers to dates.Įxcel applies formatting updates when opening CSV files, and you won't get a prompt to prevent this. In this article, we are going to show you how to avoid formatting change in CSV files in Excel. Data formatting can get mixed up when you open a data file with CSV format.

Excel text import wizard choose columns