Excel: Importing Comma-Delimited Text Files into Excel

ID: Q67455

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

To enable Microsoft Excel version 2.20, 3.00 or 4.00 to interpret a comma separated values (CSV) formatted file, one of the following procedures must be followed:

Method 1

Append a .CSV extension at the end of the name of the file you want to open.

Method 2

After choosing Open from the File menu, click the Text button, and then select the Comma option as the Column Delimiter.

If neither of these methods is used, the file will be opened as a text file with all comma-delimited information in the first column of the worksheet.


MORE INFORMATION

To use the OPEN command in a macro to open a CSV file without the .CSV filename extension, be sure to specify the format argument as 2.

The CSV format is common for many database programs. It is similar to Text format, except that the CSV format uses a comma instead of a tab to separate fields.

For more information about the CSV format, see pages 125, 147, 308, and 309 of the "Microsoft Excel User's Guide 2" version 4.0 manual. If you are using Excel version 3.00, see page 334 of the "Microsoft Excel User's Guide" version 3.0 manual. If you are using Excel 2.20, see pages 265 and 276 of the "Microsoft Excel Reference" version 2.2 manual.

For more information about the OPEN macro command, see pages 307-308 of the "Microsoft Excel Function Reference," version 4.0 manual. If you are using version 3.0, see pages 169-170 of the "Microsoft Excel Function Reference" version 3.0 manual. If you are using Excel 2.20, see page 254 of the "Microsoft Excel Functions and Macros" version 2.2 manual.

Additional query words: 2.20 2.21 3.0 4.00 


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Last Reviewed: March 21, 1999