Stop Excel from automatically converting certain text values to dates

Question

Does anyone happen to know if there is a token I can add to my csv for a certain field so Excel doesn\'t try to convert it to a date?

I\'m trying to write a .csv fil

Answer 1

Still an issue in Microsoft Office 2016 release, rather disturbing for those of us working with gene names such as MARC1, MARCH1, SEPT1 etc. The solution I've found to be the most practical after generating a ".csv" file in R, that will then be opened/shared with Excel users:

1. Open the CSV file as text (notepad)
2. Copy it (ctrl+a, ctrl+c).
3. Paste it in a new excel sheet -it will all paste in one column as long text strings.
4. Choose/select this column.
5. Go to Data- "Text to columns...", on the window opened choose "delimited" (next). Check that "comma" is marked (marking it will already show the separation of the data to columns below) (next), in this window you can choose the column you want and mark it as text (instead of general) (Finish).

HTH