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General discussion

Outlook .csv attachment opens in single Excel column

Aug 26, 2005 8:03AM PDT

I am having a problem with a .csv Outlook attachment that is baffling.
When user A sends it to user B in our company, it opens into Excel, automatically formatted into columns.
Within the Outlook message, the attachment icon is correct for an Excel csv file and when you try to save it, it saves as "queries.csv"

When user A sends the same attachment to user C, it opens in a single column. Within the Outlook message, the attachment icon looks like an Excel worksheet icon, even though the attachment name is "queries.csv", and when you try to save the attachment, it saves as "queries.xls"!!

Could anyone explain what is happening?
I would love to have it open into Excel automatically formatted into columns.

Note - The OS is NT4 but it happens in XP also
- The regional settings are the same on each PC
- Thr "list separator" character is the same on each PC

Cheers - Tom

Discussion is locked

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both are Excel
Aug 26, 2005 12:38PM PDT

Both .XLS (Excel) and .CSV (Comma Separated Values) files are accepted as file formats for Excel.

When you go to save any Excel file it normally will default to the native .XLS format.
Unless you set up Excel to save as the same format as the file was originally.

The biggest difference between the two formats is that the .CSV file is just the data, and not the formulas, nor the format, not the fonts or colors. just the data.
.CSV files are useful for transferring data between two different spreadsheet (or data file) programs. Otherwise I wouldn't use it.

Whereas the .XLS file can contain everything.

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The issue
Aug 28, 2005 9:11AM PDT

Hi
I'm not concerned what the formats - I want the Outlook attachment to open automatically in columns on the third PC, just as it does on the other one.

Tom

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List separator.
Aug 26, 2005 7:30PM PDT

Tom,

You have to look not only at the "list separator" defined in Windows, but also at the decimal separator defined in Windows. And there's the possibility that in Excel (Tools>Options>International, I think) there's a another decimal separator defined, overriding the Windows setting.

Of course, there are work-arounds by renaming it to txt and specifying the 'delimiter' in the wizard you get when you open a text file, but that's clumsy. But I'm rather sure it's a settings problem.

Hope this helps.


Kees

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Comma
Aug 28, 2005 9:08AM PDT

Hi Kees
I am pretty sure it's not a settings problem - the list separator is set to comma on both machines


Tom

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You don't mention ...
Aug 28, 2005 7:39PM PDT

the setting I mentioned inside Excel for decimal separator. Are they also the same?

And I'm pretty sure it is a setting.

Kees

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List seperator
Aug 28, 2005 10:30PM PDT

Hi Kees
Yes, the list seperator in Excel is also set to comma

Regards - Tom

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I was talking about ...
Aug 29, 2005 7:53AM PDT

the decimal separator in Excel, if I remember the field correctly (can't check it here, but please read above; I wrote that while at Excel XP). Obviously, if the decimal separator happens to be set to a comma, the list separator can't be a comma also, so probably defaults to a semicolon, even if it is defined as a comma in Windows.
Or something like that.


Kees

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Unicode and Excel
Oct 7, 2010 5:34AM PDT

This was driving me nuts so I did some more investigation and found that the file that I had was saved in Unicode (Codepage 1200) which I believe is Little Endian Unicode. I used Visual Studio to save it as UTF8 and it opened in Excel correctly. I also found that saving it as Big Endian Unicode also works correctly. Also, if you remove the Unicode header (FF FE, you have to use a binary editor to remove this) from the file, it opens Little Endian fine.

Hope this helps.

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Interesting.
Oct 7, 2010 5:24PM PDT

When in Windows and between different Windows machines, usually the best is to use Windows-1252 character set. This kind of problems arise when Linux or Mac or the web come into play.

Kees