Excel changes the value of a cell to a DATE!!!!
 

We have a text document (.txt file) a client sent us with a listing of
coordinates X, Y, Z. We also have a last column that identifies the type of
point to analyze. The text document is tab-delimited. I need to create a
Comma Delimited File (.csv) of the text document, so I thought I can use
Excel 2007 to do this:

1) Open Excel 2007
2) File Open
3) Select the text document
4) Text Wizard Import opens and I select Delimited Next Delimeters: Tab
Next Column Data Format: General Finish.
5) So far, Excel has done a wonderful job of separating my data on each
cell. I now select Save As and choose the CSV format.

PROBLEM IS:

The ID column for each coordinate has the following format: ##-#, and Excel
changes that content to a DATE! For example: "02-1" becomes "1-Feb". How can
I "teach" Excel to avoid doing that?????

Excel changes the value of a cell to a DATE!!!!
 

Open the CSV file using the text import wizard, then in step 3 highlight the
column with the "dates" and select text under column data format


--
Regards,

Peo Sjoblom



"Quco" wrote in message
...
We have a text document (.txt file) a client sent us with a listing of
coordinates X, Y, Z. We also have a last column that identifies the type
of
point to analyze. The text document is tab-delimited. I need to create a
Comma Delimited File (.csv) of the text document, so I thought I can use
Excel 2007 to do this:

1) Open Excel 2007
2) File Open
3) Select the text document
4) Text Wizard Import opens and I select Delimited Next Delimeters:
Tab
Next Column Data Format: General Finish.
5) So far, Excel has done a wonderful job of separating my data on each
cell. I now select Save As and choose the CSV format.

PROBLEM IS:

The ID column for each coordinate has the following format: ##-#, and
Excel
changes that content to a DATE! For example: "02-1" becomes "1-Feb". How
can
I "teach" Excel to avoid doing that?????

Excel changes the value of a cell to a DATE!!!!
 

You can't imagine how much I appreciate your answer. Thank you very very very
much! I never imagine we have such options on the "preview" window of he Text
Import Wizard.

"Peo Sjoblom" wrote:

Open the CSV file using the text import wizard, then in step 3 highlight the
column with the "dates" and select text under column data format


--
Regards,

Peo Sjoblom



"Quco" wrote in message
...
We have a text document (.txt file) a client sent us with a listing of
coordinates X, Y, Z. We also have a last column that identifies the type
of
point to analyze. The text document is tab-delimited. I need to create a
Comma Delimited File (.csv) of the text document, so I thought I can use
Excel 2007 to do this:

1) Open Excel 2007
2) File Open
3) Select the text document
4) Text Wizard Import opens and I select Delimited Next Delimeters:
Tab
Next Column Data Format: General Finish.
5) So far, Excel has done a wonderful job of separating my data on each
cell. I now select Save As and choose the CSV format.

PROBLEM IS:

The ID column for each coordinate has the following format: ##-#, and
Excel
changes that content to a DATE! For example: "02-1" becomes "1-Feb". How
can
I "teach" Excel to avoid doing that?????

Excel changes the value of a cell to a DATE!!!!
 

This is a great tip. Is there a way to set this up so that it will
open the CSV file in Excel this way when you just double click on it?

This would be a great timesaver as we have tonnes of CSV files like
these which are frequently edited in Excel.

Thanks,
JGP