The best method (Excel for Windows: Microsoft 365 / Excel 2016+)
1) Open Excel first (don’t double-click the CSV)
Double-clicking a CSV makes Excel “guess” formats and separators, which is where most corruption happens.
2) Go to Data → From Text/CSV
Excel ribbon: Data tab
Group: Get & Transform Data
Click From Text/CSV
3) Pick your CSV and click Import
You’ll get a preview/import dialog.
4) Set the two most important options in the preview dialog
Look for options like:
A) Delimiter (separator)
Choose the real delimiter your file uses: Comma, Semicolon, Tab, etc. (VAT4U uses semicolon delimiter and UTF8 encoding)
If columns look “all in one column”, the delimiter is wrong.
B) File origin / Encoding
If you see garbled characters (accents, non-Latin text), change encoding to UTF-8 (common) or whatever your system/export uses.
This is the main fix for “weird symbols” issues. (The Text/CSV import supports specifying encoding/origin.)
5) Decide: Load vs Transform Data
Click Load if the preview already looks perfect.
Click Transform Data if you need to protect formatting (leading zeros, big IDs), stop date conversions, or clean columns.
Microsoft’s guidance also points to using the import flow / wizard rather than just opening the file.
Advanced option: Protect your data (highly recommended)
A) Keep leading zeros (e.g., ZIP codes, SKU like 000512)
If you Load directly, Excel may strip them.
Instead:
In the import preview, click Transform Data
Power Query Editor opens
Select the column(s) that must stay exact
Set Data Type to Text
Close & Load back to Excel
B) Prevent long numbers becoming scientific notation (e.g., 16+ digit IDs)
Same approach: set those columns to Text in Transform Data before loading.
C) Stop Excel from auto-turning values into dates
If you have values like 1-2 or 03/04 that must remain text:
Use Transform Data → set that column to Text before loading.
Excel for Mac (Microsoft 365 / modern Excel)
Very similar:
Open Excel
Data tab → Get Data (Power Query) / From Text/CSV (wording varies by version)
Choose delimiter + encoding (VAT4U uses semicolon delimiter and UTF8 encoding)
Prefer Transform Data if you need Text types, then Close & Load
(Conceptually the same import pipeline described in Microsoft’s CSV/text import instructions.)
If you must use the old Text Import Wizard (legacy workflow)
Microsoft notes you can force the wizard by renaming .csv to .txt before opening, then follow the Text Import Wizard steps.
This can be handy on older Excel setups or specific workflows.
Quick troubleshooting checklist
Everything in one column → wrong delimiter (comma vs semicolon is common).
Accents / non-English text looks broken → wrong encoding; try UTF-8.
00123 becomes 123 → set column to Text during import / in Power Query.
Big IDs become 1.23E+15 → set column to Text during import.