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How to convert CSV to Excel properly

Bring a CSV into Excel without losing leading zeros, long numbers, accents or dates, then save it as XLSX. Excel, Google Sheets and a one-click converter.

Updated October 2026

Double-clicking a CSV opens it in Excel, but it isn't the same as converting it. Excel guesses at everything: it strips leading zeros, turns long numbers into 1.23E+15, misreads accented letters and sometimes swaps days and months. Here's how to bring a CSV into Excel properly and save it as a real .xlsx workbook.

The quick way: a converter

Drop the CSV onto our CSV to Excel converter and click Download Excel file. It detects the separator and encoding, keeps columns with leading zeros or long IDs as text, turns money and dates into real numbers, and gives you a frozen, filterable header row. Several CSVs can go into one workbook, a sheet each. Nothing is uploaded.

In Excel: Data › From Text/CSV

This is Excel's proper import, and it gives you control over each column.

1. Open a blank workbook. On the Data tab, click From Text/CSV and choose your file.
2. In the preview window, check File Origin. If accents look wrong, choose 65001: Unicode (UTF-8).
3. Check Delimiter. If everything is in one column, pick Comma or Semicolon.
4. Click Transform Data if any column needs protecting, such as ZIP codes or IDs. Select the column, choose Data Type › Text, and click Close & Load. Otherwise, click Load.
5. Choose File › Save As and pick Excel Workbook (*.xlsx).

Excel loads the data as a table connected to the CSV. That's handy for refreshing, but if you just want plain cells, right-click the table and choose Table › Convert to Range.

The classic Text Import Wizard

Some people prefer the older wizard, which sets column types in three quick steps. Turn it on under File › Options › Data › Show legacy data import wizards › From Text (Legacy). Then use Data › Get Data › Legacy Wizards › From Text (Legacy). In step 3, click each sensitive column and set Column data format to Text.

In Google Sheets

1. In a new spreadsheet, click File › Import › Upload and choose the CSV.
2. Pick a Separator type (or leave it on detect).
3. Uncheck Convert text to numbers, dates, and formulas if you need leading zeros kept, then click Import data.
4. Click File › Download › Microsoft Excel (.xlsx).

The catch: unchecking that box keeps zeros but also leaves real numbers and dates as text, for the whole file.

What to watch for

• Leading zeros: ZIP codes, phone numbers and product codes must be text columns, or the zeros go.
• Long numbers: Excel keeps only 15 digits. Card, account and tracking numbers must be text.
• Dates: 03/04/2026 means different days in different countries. Check a date where the day is over 12.
• Formulas in the data: a cell starting with = in a CSV can run as a formula when Excel opens it. Import it as text if the file came from someone else.
• Size: Excel stops at 1,048,576 rows. Longer files need splitting across sheets.

More on these in fixing garbled characters and lost zeros.