How do I Import a CSV file into Excel with columns automatically?

When you open a .CSV file all your data might appear in one single column separated with commas. This is to do with your computer's regional setting. The best option, in this case, is to 'import' your .CSV sheet into Excel rather than 'open' it.

Here's how you do it:

MS Excel 2007 - 2012

1. Open Excel
2. Go to 'Data' tab
3. Select 'From Text' (third option from left) and select the .CSV file you want to import.
4. Click 'Next' on the pop-up window. Make sure you select 'Comma' in the next window. You should see your data applied into columns below already. You can add any other information if you need to here. Click 'Finish' when you're done with editing.

MS Excel 2003

1. Open Excel
2. Go to 'Data' tab
3. Select 'Import External Data' and then 'Import Data' from the drop down menu.
4. Select the .CSV file you want to import.
5. Click 'Next' on the pop-up window. Make sure you select 'Comma' in the next window. You should see your data applied into columns below already. You can add any other information if you need to here. Click 'Finish' when you're done with editing.

The behavior of Excel when opening CSV files heavily depends on your local settings and the used list separator under Region and language » Formats » Advanced. By default Excel will assume every CSV was saved with that separator. Which is true as long as the CSV doesn't come from another country!

If your customers are in other countries, they may see other results then you think.

For example, here you see that a German Excel will use semicolon instead of comma like in the U.S

To confuse you even more, that setting interferes with the decimal symbol which can be separately set up under Excel Options » Advanced » Use system separators or via regional settings as shown above. Excel can't use the same symbol as decimal tab and list separator. It will automatically use comma or semicolon as a backup separator. Read more

I will take your example to create 3 files. Each with a different separator and open it with Excel.

    COMMA               SEMICOLON                     TAB 

Not the same as your Excel does? I thought so.

So lets manually change the extension from the same CSV files to XLS and look what happens now. First, Excel will throw up a warning that the file extension doesn't match the content and Excel tries to guess whats inside.

    COMMA        SEMICOLON                   TAB 

Conclusion: TAB + renaming + ignore warning = Win on every system?
Maybe, but I wouldn't be so sure for customers outside your own country.

The best method is to instruct your customers to first open a blank Excel and then go to Data » Get data from text and manually select comma as separator

After I do that, I already have the formula to text to column based on each record types fixed column width counts.

Every ID will have RecordType1 and can have additional rows of RecordType2 and RecordType3. Pretend there are 500 Unique IDs (recordtype1), 900 Records total (400additional rows of data for RecordType2 & 3)

Example:
HeaderRecord DateDateHourDate L
RecordType1 First Last ID01 TitleDate1Date2 zerofilldate3
RecordType2 ID01 Date1Date2 YesNo Spacefill
RecordType3 ID01 DataInfoDate1 ZerofillDate
RecordType1 First Last ID02 TitleDate1Date2 zerofilldate3
RecordType2 ID02 Date1Date2 YesNo Spacefill
RecordType3 ID01 DataInfoDate1 ZerofillDate
RecordType1 First Last ID03 TitleDate1Date2 zerofilldate3
RecordType2 ID03 Date1Date2 YesNo Spacefill
RecordType3 ID03 DataInfoDate1 ZerofillDate
TrailerRecord Count

CSV files offer a simple and reliable way to record and share database information in a tabular format. They hold plain text as a series of values (cells) in a series of rows. The great thing about CSV files is that they’re quick and compact, using less memory than spreadsheets. As a result, they provide a quick and easy way to handle, store, and parse data. They’re versatile too: most applications can open CSV files. For example, if you use specialist software or an ERP, you might download that data to CSV before processing the information further, or sharing it with colleagues. So why import CSV to Excel?

Although CSV is good for storing large amounts of data, once you need to start manipulating, analyzing, and reporting your data, you’ll probably want to move it to a spreadsheet. Spreadsheet tools like Excel offer incredible functionalities to effectively organize and optimize your raw data into actionable insights, which you can then use to make important business decisions.

If you’ve ever converted a CSV to Excel manually, you’ll know that it can be a cumbersome task. Luckily there’s now a way to do it automatically. Without further ado, let’s explore how to convert CSV to Excel automatically in a few simple steps. You can even sync multiple CSV files to one Excel file, or split one CSV file into multiple Excel workbooks in one click.

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