Hey guys,

I'm currently editing store inventory in excel, but whenever I save the document, all of the formatting is removed. This is especially annoying, because some of the data in the cells is changed because the formatting is removed. For example, one of the columns contains SKU#'s, many of which start with 0. I format these columns so that the 0 isn't automatically removed. However, upon saving and then loading it again, the formatting is lost and the 0s are once again removed.

Another weird problem I'm encountering is with pasting in UPC codes (barcode numbers). They usually appear fine when I paste them in there, but when I reload the file, it just changes the number entirely for seemingly no reason. For example, 797379015970 turns into 797000000000. Anyone know what this is about?



I would really appreciate any input from experienced excel users. Thank you!

Hi
You say the pasted text appears fine initially. One suggestion would be to insert a new column next to the pasted column. For example if the pasted column was in Col A and you new column was Col B you could use the Formula ="'"&A1 in cell B1 and copy down to your last row of data. Then copy Col B and paste into Col A as values (using Paste Special) then remove Column B.
Hope this helps.
Good luck.
Tony

Piano -

The way I'm reading your post I'm guessing you are trying to edit and save a .csv file. Is that the case?

Even though Excel has the .csv file type associated to it in order to directly open it - it isn't a true Excel file. Any edits you make as far as formatting are lost unless you save it as an Excel file ( .xlsx ).

.csv files are really meant to make files compatible with multiple programs that otherwise wouldn't be able to exchange data.