EXCEL HELP!!! Im going to kill it!!!

[Homerboy]

I have a CSV and 1 column is a number with a "-" in it
Example: 10-13
when I open it in Excel it auto formats that column to a date
so it shows up as Oct-13

How the hell do I stop Excel from auto-foramtting that column BEFORE opening it. Going back and formatting those cells AFTER it shows Oct-13 wont work.

Please God help me.

 

[Mitzi]

Highlight column and click Format->Cells and select 'Text' from the dialog. This should be done on the sheet before you import the data though otherwise it will convert it to a date and its a pig to get back.

 

[Homerboy]

Its just a CSV file.
So I click on it to open and its formatted automatically in Excel to "date"
I can open Excel before the CSV, and format column A to "text" but then if I go and open the data.csv file within Excel it opens a new page and column A is set to "date"

 

[Mitzi]

Ahh...damn...

Could you make the file available and I'll give it a go?

 

[noxxic]

Rename it to .TXT, and Excel will show you more options when you open the file. IIRC...

 

[Homerboy]

Come and get it.

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: noxxic
Rename it to .TXT, and Excel will show you more options when you open the file. IIRC...

No go.

 

[daniel1113]

I love people who get angry with programs for their own inability to operate the software

 

[Avatar26]

Renaming it to a .TXT worked for me, you should get options in this order:
Delimited/Fixed width ---->Next
Type of Delimiter (specify comma, defaults to tab IIRC) ----->Next
Column data format (highlight 1st column and specify text)
Click Finish

 

[ddwbi0]

save file as .txt, open with excel...done

 

[Mitzi]

Originally posted by: noxxic
Rename it to .TXT, and Excel will show you more options when you open the file. IIRC...

I can confirm that works... when you open the file it starts the import process which lets you specify column delimiters, data types etc. Here is the corresponding XLS file for your CSV file.

daniel1113: Just because someone doesn't know how to achieve something with a particular application doesn't mean they ain't entitled to get angry with it. What would be the point in this forum if people couldn't openly ask for assistance and advice? So, I say back to you:

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: daniel1113
I love people who get angry with programs for their own inability to operate the software

Daniel, Im sure I could run circles around you in many programs and games. And you vice versa to me. Or in any aspect of life.

What I love is when people critize versus helping somebody when they ask.

 

[Homerboy]

Works guys! Thanks!
Whats interesting, and really was the REAL problem was the fact that if I right clicked on the renamed .txt file and opened with Excel it did not give me these options (seen/done this before so I KNEW that I could define the columns etc). But if I first opened Excel then went and opened the file from within Excel the option menus popped up

Great great great!

Now I can finally run and districute my reports!

All hail ATOT (again)

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Originally posted by: daniel1113
I love people who get angry with programs for their own inability to operate the software

Daniel, Im sure I could run circles around you in many programs and games. And you vice versa to me. Or in any aspect of life.

What I love is when people critize versus helping somebody when they ask.

"Im going to kill it!!!"
"How the hell do I stop Excel from auto-foramtting that column..."

I help people with computers all the time. In fact, you could call that my "night job." Computers only do what they are programmed to do. Excel isn't auto-formatting columns by itself. The operator is doing it. So, why not write "I can't make Excel do this..." or "I am having problems with Excel." Call it a pet peeve. But I hate it when people blame software, and computers in general, for their own lack of knowledge.

 

[Homerboy]

Hey I help people ALL DAY with PC problems also...
Its called frustration. I freaking KNOW its not Excels fault... How stupid do you thnk I am?
This is a stupid stupid arguement.

Im out.