Importing Data in to Excel

Importing Data in to MS-Excel and Keeping Leading Zeros

When importing data in to MS-Excel, it is important to make sure that all data is accurate. If the Excel spreadsheet is not formatted correctly, it can drop leading zeros from imported data and alter other important information. This is why it is important to make sure that when importing data in to an Excel spreadsheet, the sheet is formatted correctly.

For example, if you have a customer 00012345 that is imported incorrectly, it could show up as customer 12345. Importing incorrect data will cause problems in TrackAbout like creating duplicate customers or loading incorrect barcodes, to name a few.

How To Import Data in To Excel Correctly

1. Launch MS-Excel Spreadsheet. Click the "Data" tab. Click the "Get External Data - From Text" icon.

2. Click the "From Text" icon. Use the file manager to locate the file you want to import.

3. Select the file and click Import/Open.

   1. In the Text Import Wizard, click the "Delimited" option button. Then click Next.

   2. Select the proper file delimiter. Most common is CSV (Comma Separated File). Click Next.

   3. *Important* Select the column that contains the data with leading zeros then click the "Text" radio button to treat the data in the column as text. Do the same for each column with potential leading zeros that you want to retain.

   4. Click the Finish.

4. Click OK in the "Input Data" dialog box to complete the import.