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How to force Excel to open CSV files with data arranged in columns

Fresh5 days ago
Mar 15, 2026381419 views
Confidence Score1%
1%

Problem

I generate a CSV file with an extension .csv in which every piece of data in one line is separated with a comma: The file is sent via email and I want that when a customer opens it she sees data arranged into columns. Is such thing possible? PS: I may freely change the delimeter.

Error Output

1,2,3,4
1,2,3,4

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Fix for: How to force Excel to open CSV files with data arranged in columns

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Sadly, Microsoft decided to use different separators in different localizations for (which stands for Comma Separated Values). That's especially annoying when working on an international basis. If it's only to get the readable at every system, there's an undocumented trick: in the first line write . This line tells EXCEL to use as separator (in fact you can use any (single) character ( ...)) NOTE: this line is just part of the file itself. It will not become part of the spreadsheet in EXCEL. th…

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