Excel converting to CSV

Fingers crossed I have followed your advice and about to save as CSV

If you open a CSV with Excel, this behavior is normal, because a CSV is a text file and Excel must convert the text back to values, which is due to your regional settings. See also:

Power Query - How to import a CSV file that does not match your locale - Microsoft Community

Open the CSV with Notepad and you'll see that everything is fine in there.

It is not easy to say what the right steps are, because it depends on what's in there and why you want the CSV file. Again: CSV is not an Excel file, it is a plain text file.

Andreas.

Dear Leanne,

Thank you for reaching out regarding the issues you encountered when saving your Excel file as a CSV. We understand how important it is to maintain the accuracy of your data. Before saving your file as a CSV, please follow these steps to prevent Excel from modifying your data:

•  Format as Text Before Data Entry: Please pre-format the columns as Text in Excel before entering data. This prevents Excel from automatically converting numbers into its own format.
•  Use Apostrophes: Prefixing data with an apostrophe (') tells Excel to treat the entry as text. For example, entering '00123 would keep the leading zeros.
•  Check for Delimiters: Ensure that the data doesn't contain commas within fields. If it does, the CSV might split those into separate columns. Using text qualifiers (quotes around each field) can help, but Excel might not always handle them correctly when saving.
•  Importing the CSV Correctly: When reopening the CSV, instead of double-clicking it, the user should import it using Excel's Data Import Wizard. This allows specifying data formats for each column, ensuring numbers are treated as text.
•  Avoid Scientific Notation: For long numbers, formatting the cells as Text before inputting data. Alternatively, entering an apostrophe before the number to keep it as text.
•  Check Column Widths: The ##### symbols might be due to column width. Adjusting the column width after reopening the CSV could resolve this, but if the data was truncated during save, that's a different issue.
•  Using Save As Correctly: When saving as CSV, ensure that the data is properly formatted. Maybe saving as CSV and then reopening in a text editor to check the actual contents would help spot any discrepancies.
•  Alternative Formats: Suggest saving as Excel Workbook (.xlsx) instead of CSV if possible, as it preserves formatting. If CSV is required, then steps to ensure data integrity during export are crucial.

And we would like to clarify that we do not support specific operations using Excel formulas. However, we will make every effort to find an alternative solution for your needs. We hope for your understanding regarding this limitation**.**

Best regards,

Katherine V - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist