Page Icon A Perfect Excel Alternative to handle CSV Files

   

Let's be clear. Excel is state of the art spreadsheet software, and is excellent at doing what it was designed to do. However, over the years Excel's table structure has led it to be used in ways for which it was not originally designed. One of these is editing CSV files, for which it is capable, but far from perfect.

Some of the main problems encountered with CSV files in Excel

Problem Description Effect
Excel not recognizing the comma. For English installations of Excel the comma (,) is recognized and used correctly as a field/cell separator. However in European installations of Excel the comma is used as the decimal point character and Excel uses a semi-colon (;) as the field/cell separator. Every field in a row in a CSV file is loaded into the first column as a single field.
Excel interpreting values. Excel automatically reads cell values and decides what type they should be. When the result is displayed in the spreadsheet the formatting of the output may not agree with the original data.
  • Numbers have leading zeros removed.
  • Numbers are shown using an exponential.
  • Dates are not shown.
Excel mis- interpreting values. If a CSV file is moved from one region to another, where the meaning of the comma changes in a number, or the order of the day and month in a date change the automatic interpretation of the values by Excel becomes more than an inconvenience. Data is corrupted.

Excel has a row Limitation.

Rons Data Edit PRO uploads more than one million rows.

Excel is not a text editor. Excel was not fundamentally designed as a text editor.

The alternative is to use a professional CSV Editor like Rons Data Edit

Not surprisingly the solution is to use software designed to edit CSV files, like Rons Data Edit.

Rons Data Edit not only treats CSV files as text, but also contains extensive features for manipulating text including tools to process and re-format region specific dates and numbers.

Anyone working regularly with CSV files will appreciate the ability to work efficiently, with software that is actually focussed on providing them with all the tools they need for their editing needs, and will be relieved not to be constantly interrupted by issues such as formula’s error messages.

Finally

Using the right tool prevents frustration and gains a lot of time. If you need a professional CSV editor give Rons Data Edit a try, and let us know what you think.

Rons Data Edit LITE is 100% free and clean (limited to 1000 lines).


Tags: rons csv editor, rons data edit

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