Impoet Text file - Keep leading zeros

[JEB85]

Hi Guys,</SPAN>

I have numerous Excel files that are in the same format which I’ve merged as one text file to import into powerpivot.</SPAN>

One of the columns of data I have on the face look like numbers but I have them stored as text e.g 09312000. This is important because I need to keep the leading zeros.</SPAN>

When I import the data into powerpivot I’m losing the leading zeros.</SPAN>

How do I get around this?</SPAN>

Thanks</SPAN>

 

[JEB85]

Hi NickyvV, thanks for the suggestion - I would normally use Excel but the file is over 1 million records and growing. Can you think of any other solution? It's been driving me crazy!

Thanks

 

[cboshdave]

Okay... I have read through these threads. I guess the one question that I still have is if I create a .csv file programatically for a non-excel user and I save the values as:
"01234","Person1"
"12345","Person2"
When I open the .csv file with Excel, why would Excel drop the leading zeros? I thought that would make it clearer to excel to treat it differently?? My users have to open this file all the time. I need to make it easier to open and deal with rather than having an import every time. Additionally, I need to read the file back in with their changes. So, I don't want a bunch of extraneous data.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[GDRIII]

I have not used it, and have only had surficial discussions but, it sounds like you might be able to overcome this with PowerQuery