Spreadsheets4 min read
CSV to Excel without losing leading zeros or breaking formats
Phone numbers, ZIP codes and IDs lose their leading zeros, long numbers turn into 1E+15 and dates flip. Here is how to convert CSV to Excel cleanly.
Quick answer
Convert with CSV to Excel, which creates a real XLSX file and can keep columns as text so leading zeros survive. Double-clicking a CSV in Excel is what causes the damage.
What goes wrong when you open a CSV in Excel
- Leading zeros are dropped:
00123becomes123. - Long numbers become scientific notation.
- Dates are reinterpreted using your region's format.
- Everything lands in one column if your Excel expects semicolons.
Steps
- Open CSV to Excel and choose the file. Check the preview.
- Set the delimiter if the columns look wrong.
- Keep text-like columns as text.
- Download the XLSX.
Going the other way, Excel to CSV lets you choose the delimiter. To clean data first, use CSV Tools to remove duplicates, sort or filter.
Frequently asked questions
Are formulas kept?
Values are converted. Formulas are not evaluated or carried over.