How to Prevent Excel from Auto-Converting String to Date

Question

Hello. I have some product data with product codes like "07-2772", "12-2773" etc. If you type these strings in Excel, it'll automatically convert "07-2772" to Jul-72 and "12-2773" to Dec-73 as dates. I know I can add a single quote before string when entering. The file has thousands of rows of data. How can I make Excel stop doing this when I open the file? Thank you in advance.&nbsp;

hansvogelaar · Answer

DataSundowner&nbsp;
Alternatively, format the cells as Text before entering data.

datasundowner · Answer

HansVogelaar&nbsp;Thank you Hans. The problem is that I'm not entering data. I download the data from online and then directly open the file with data in it. When it opens, it automatically reads those data as dates. Any work around in this situation?

hansvogelaar · Answer

DataSundowner 
What kind of file is it? .csv, .txt, .xslx, ...?

datasundowner · Answer

HansVogelaar&nbsp;It's downloaded as csv (only option), and I open it up in Excel.

hansvogelaar · Answer

DataSundowner&nbsp;
Instead of double-clicking the .csv file, open it from within Excel.
This should activate the Text Import Wizard.
In Step 3 of this wizard, you can specify that some columns must be treated as text.

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How to Prevent Excel from Auto-Converting String to Date

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