Instructions for reading and importing CSV files into Excel

This guide will show you how to quickly and easily import CSV data into Excel (from 365 down to 2007) while avoiding the common pitfalls that arise when doing so.

Excel can receive CSV files in two main ways: by opening the file itself, or by importing the file as external data. The article provides in-depth instructions for both approaches and discusses the benefits and drawbacks of each. Further, we will highlight potential problems and provide recommendations for how to best address them.

Opening the CSV file and converting it to Excel format.

There are two ways to import CSV data into Excel: from within the Excel file itself or by using Windows Explorer. We ask that you keep the following in mind regardless of the approach you take:

• When you open a CSV file in Excel, it stays a CSV file. xlsx or xls The archive will be unaltered from the source document. appendix csv
• Maximum row and column counts in the files are 1,048,576 and 16,384, respectively.

The Easiest Way to Read a CSV File in Excel

Excel's built-in Open command can be used to read CSV files made in other applications.

1. You can open a file in Excel by going to the File menu and selecting Open, or by pressing the Ctrl O shortcut
2. When the Open window appears, choose Text Files (*. prn;* txt;* csv) from the list that appears in the top right corner of the page
   
3. Using a file browser, locate the CSV file you want to open, and then double-click it.

A CSV file, short for comma-separated values, data file (.csv) will be imported into a fresh Excel sheet.

With a text document ( file extension (.txt,.doc,.docx,.pdf,.rtf,. Learn more about how to import CSV files into Excel here.

CSV file cannot be accessed in Windows Explorer.

Rapidly cracking open a to open a.csv file in Excel, all you have to do is double-click it in File Explorer. Doing so will launch a brand new workbook with your document.

Unfortunately, you can't use this approach unless Excel is your device's default spreadsheet program. csv files Here, the standard Excel green icon appears alongside windows explorer csv files

Right-click the CSV file, and select Open with... > Excel if you want to use Excel instead of your default app.

Here are the measures to take to make Excel the default app for CVS files:

1. Just right-click on any opening a.csv file in Windows Explorer, right-clicking it, and selecting "Open with..." followed by "Choose another app..."
2. Select Excel from the list of alternatives, then select the Always use this app to open option. check the Import.csv files box, and then click OK
   

Bring your CSV file into Excel and have at it.

With this technique, you can bring information in from a in a.csv file to a preexisting or brand-new Excel workbook This method improves upon the earlier one in that it does more than simply open the file in Excel; instead, Data in.csv format to file extension.xlsx (Excel 2007 and later) or xls (Excel 97-2003)

Two options exist for importing:

• The Text Import Wizard can be used across all versions.
• By establishing a link using Power Query (Excel 2016/365)

Importing CSV Files Into Excel Using the Text Import Wizard

It's important to note that the Text Import Wizard is an older feature that has been relegated from the ribbon to the Excel Options menu as of Excel 2016.

There are two alternatives to using the Text Import Wizard if it is not included in your version of Excel:

• Turn on the functionality from text (legacy).
• Initiate Excel's built-in Import Text Wizard with a single click For this, you'll need to convert the file's extension to csv to txt, load it into Excel, and proceed through the wizard's steps as outlined below.

Here's how to bring a CSV file into Excel:

1. For versions of Excel prior to 2013, select From Text from the Data tab's Get External Data group.
   

   Click Get Data > Legacy Wizards > From Text (Legacy) on the Data tab > Get & Transform Data group in Excel 2016 and later.
   

   Note The From Text wizard should automatically appear in most cases; if it doesn't, check your settings. If Legacy Wizards is still disabled, try working with an empty cell or a new, blank worksheet.

2. Select the text file to import in the Import Text File dialogue box. To import a.csv file, simply select it and then either click the Import button or double-click the file.
   
3. If you click the button, the Text Import Wizard will launch. In the first place, pick:
   • What is a Delimited File?
   • Row at which import should begin (usually, 1).
   • Checking if your information has headers

   Several sample entries from your CSV file are displayed in the preview window of the wizard's lower section.
   

4. Select the text qualifier and delimiter.

   A delimiter is the symbol used to divide data in a file. Because a comma-separated values (CSV) file contains numerical data, the Comma The Tab key is typically used when working with text files.

   A text qualifier denotes the character that surrounds the values in a data file. If a delimiter is specified, any text between the two qualifiers will be imported as a single value.

   The double quote (") is the most common text qualifier. When previewing your CSV file, you can use the "Back" button to see what kind of character is surrounding the values.

   Here, "3,392" is imported as one cell because all comma-separated numbers (the thousands separator) are enclosed in double quotes. If you don't use double quotation marks as your text qualifier, any comma-separated values will be split between two columns.

   Make sure the Data preview shows the information you want imported before clicking Next.
   

   A few helpful hints:

   • If your CSV file contains more than one consecutive delimiter, you can avoid having blank cells by selecting the Treat consecutive delimiters as one option.
   • If all of the data appears in a single column in the preview, the wrong delimiter was used. If you want the values to appear in distinct columns, you'll need to adjust the delimiter.
5. Define the data format. By default, all other data types are converted to text while numbers are converted to numbers and dates and times are converted to dates and times.

   To change the column's format, click inside it in the Data Preview and then select a new format from the drop-down menu labeled Column data format.

   • Format your numbers as Text if you want to preserve the leading zeros.
   • To display dates properly, click the Date format pull-down menu and select the desired format.

   When you're done reviewing the data, hit the Finish button.
   

6. Select a destination worksheet or create a new one to import data into, then press OK.
   

   Advice and Reminders:

   • Click Properties... in the aforementioned dialogue box to adjust more advanced settings, including refresh control, layout, and formatting.
   • If any of your imported data is displayed incorrectly, you can fix it by using Excel's Format Cells function.

Importing from a text file? Here are a few pointers to help you get started.

Excel 2016 and Excel 365: Turn on the Text Import Wizard

Following these steps will launch the Text Import Wizard in newer versions of Excel:

1. Select Options > Data from the File menu's File tab.
2. Choose From Text (Legacy) under Show legacy data import wizards, and then click OK.
   

Once activated, the wizard can be accessed from the Get Data > Legacy Wizards submenu on the Data tab's Get & Transform Data group.

Connecting a CSV file to Excel: A Transfer Guide

With the help of Power Query, Excel 365, Excel 2021, Excel 2019, and Excel 2016 can read in data from a text file. This is how:

1. Select From Text/CSV under Get & Transform Data on the Data tab.
   
2. Choose the desired text file and then click Import in the Import Data dialogue box.
   
3. The preview dialogue box gives you the following choices:
   • Delimiter Select the delimiter for your text file's values.
   • Finding Out What Kind Of Information It Is Excel has a built-in function that will analyze the first 200 rows (the default) or the entire dataset to determine the data type for each column. The option to import the data in its native Text format without any type detection is also available.
   • Modify Information Brings up Excel's Power Query Editor counterpart, where you can make necessary changes before exporting the results. Use this function to specify the format for individual columns.
   • Load Options for specifying data import targets After selecting Load, the CSV file will be imported into a new worksheet. Select Load to Table, PivotTable, or PivotChart, or just Load to Sheet if you want to copy the information to an already-existing or brand-new sheet.

   

   The CSV data will be imported in a table format similar to this one when you click the Load button:
   

   You can always get the most recent version of the imported table by refreshing the query (Table Design > Refresh) and following the link back to the original CSV file.

   Helpful hints and notes:

   • Select a cell, then select Table > Convert to Range from the context menu. In doing so, the query will be deleted from the sheet permanently, and the imported data will no longer be linked to the source file.
   • If you notice that a column's values were imported in the incorrect format, you can attempt to correct the issue by performing a manual conversion, such as from text to number or text to date.

Opening vs. Converting a CSV File to Excel importing

When you launch a file in Microsoft Excel, it When you import a.csv file, it will use the information it gleans from your computer's default data format settings to figure out how to display each column' In most cases, this is sufficient.

Importing the text file instead of opening it is the best option if you want to maintain control over the values and how they are displayed in Excel. Common applications include the following:

• Alternative delimiters are used in the CSV file.
• Dates are represented in a variety of ways in the CSV file.
• Keep the zeros preceding some numbers.
• You need a sneak peek at your data before it's imported into Excel from CSV.
• The desire for greater adaptability in life has led you here.

A Guide to Excel's CSV File Format and Saving

No matter which method of conversion you used, the resulting file can be saved normally.

1. To save an Excel workbook, select File > Save as from the menu bar.
2. Select the destination directory from the file's menu.
3. Excel Workbook (*) is the format to use when saving as an Excel file. Click the Save As... menu and select the desired file format (.xlsx,.xls,.xls If you want to save the file in comma-separated format, choose either CSV (Comma delimited) or CSV UTF-8.
4. Click Save
   

If the CSV file was saved in the If you're trying to open an older file that was saved in.xls format in Excel 2010 or later, you may get the message "The file is damaged and cannot be opened." If you have a corrupted.xls file, try these steps to repair it.

Methods for simultaneously opening multiple CSV files in Excel

You probably already know that the Open command in Microsoft Excel can be used to simultaneously open multiple workbooks. Additionally, CSV files can be read with this method.

Here are the steps you need to take in order to open multiple CSV files in Excel:

1. To open a file in Excel, select File > Open or hit Ctrl O entwined keys
2. Select the folder containing the source files by using the Browse button.
3. Choose Text Files (*.txt) from the list that appears next to the box where you can enter the file's name. prn, * txt, * csv)
4. Pick the appropriate text documents:
   • A selection of adjacent files can be made by clicking the first file, holding down the Shift key, and then clicking the last file. It will select the two files you clicked on and all the ones in between.
   • To pick files that aren't next to each other, hold down the Ctrl Activate the files you need one by one by pressing the appropriate keys
5. Select multiple files, then hit "Open."
   

To open the chosen files, right-click them in Windows Explorer and select Open from the menu that appears.

Since each CSV file is opened in its own workbook, this method is otherwise foolproof in all but one respect. In practice, it may be inconvenient and time-consuming to toggle between multiple Excel files. Instead, you can have them merged into a single workbook by following the steps outlined in this guide: How to Merge Multiple CSV Files Into One Excel Workbook.

Your ability to import CSV files into Excel should be much improved now. For those of you who have made it this far in the tutorial, I appreciate your perseverance.

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