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Double-clicking a CSV file often goes wrong — columns get misread, numbers turn into dates, IDs lose leading zeros, and everything lands in a single column. The Text Import Wizard handles it cleanly.

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Step 1 – Open the file

1

Open Excel

Launch Microsoft Excel.
2

Go to File → Import

From the top menu, choose File → Import.
3

Select the CSV file

Select CSV as the file type and open your file.
Step 1 – Open the file in Excel

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Step 2 – Choose the import type

1

Select Delimited

Choose Delimited — not “Fixed Width”.
2

Keep start row at 1

Leave Start import at row set to 1 so the header row is included.
3

Click Next

Click Next to continue.
Step 2 – Choose Delimited import type

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Step 3 – Set the delimiter

1

Tick Comma only

Check Comma as the delimiter.
2

Uncheck everything else

Make sure Tab, Semicolon, and Space are unchecked.
3

Keep the text qualifier

Leave Text qualifier as " (double quote).
4

Click Next

Click Next to continue.
Step 3 – Set comma as delimiter

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Step 4 – Set column formats

1

Leave columns as General

Leave all columns set to General — this works for most data.
2

Click Finish

Click Finish to complete the import.
Step 4 – Set column formats
For columns with long IDs or numbers with leading zeros (e.g. GTINs, order numbers), click each column before hitting Finish and set it to Text. Otherwise Excel will truncate the values or convert them to scientific notation.

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Done

Your CSV is now loaded into Excel with columns correctly split and data readable. To save: File → Save As and choose Excel Workbook (.xlsx).