Hamish has attended:
Excel Advanced course
Opening csv files in Excel with long alphanumeric codes
Hi ,
I have a CSV file that has a column with long codes (some more than 20 characters) eg. "44d00e8a9b1484231212". In most circumstances the code opens correctly. However in some circumstances the code is formatted to something like "3.11303E+19" appearing as "31130285965857000000" when I look in the cell itself. All the codes are alphanumeric so why has this code been converted into a number and rounded?
Why does this happen and how can I prevent it?
RE: Opening csv files in Excel with long alphanumeric codes
Hi Hamish, thanks for your query. Import the CSV file into Excel as a text file using the Data tab and the From Text tool. Obviously set the delimiter as a comma but set the format of the incoming column with the code in as Text. That should prevent the problem from occuring.
Basically, Excel does not like displaying long numbers and will try to reformat long numbers (including mobile phone numbers in some cases) into scientific notation. I think it's only doing this on those codes with numbers in and I'd be surprised if it's doing it to a mix of alpha and numerical characters. Try the solution and let me know if you encounter any further problems.
Hope this helps,
Anthony
