Save as CSV results in an Excel file!?

T

Tim Witort

Windows XP, Excel 2003

I have a user who I am helping remotely. They have a small
Excel file - about 12 rows. They do a Save As and select
"CSV (comma delimited) (*.csv)" as the file type, then
click Save. Oddly, they do not receive the usual warning
about "features not compatible...", however the file is
saved and appears to be a CSV file with the appropriate
extension. When this file is opened in Notepad to check it
out, it clearly is *not* a CSV file - all special characters
and gobbledegook. In fact, the contents look just like
a standard Excel file (XLS).

I cannot reproduce this odd outcome on my own system.
When I save as a CSV, I get the expected warning and the
resulting file looks like a CSV file in my text editor.

Is there some setting or option in Excel that would cause
this behavior? Something that would save the file as an
Excel file even when the "save as file type" is set to CSV?

-- TRW
_______________________________________
t i m . w i t o r t
_______________________________________
 
G

Gary Brown

Just a thought...
Are they typing in the file name "MyFile.cvs" BUT leaving the 'Save as
type:" as Excel?
 
T

Tim Witort

=?Utf-8?B?R2FyeSBCcm93bg==?= seemed to utter in (e-mail address removed):
Just a thought...
Are they typing in the file name "MyFile.cvs" BUT leaving the 'Save as
type:" as Excel?

My understanding is that they are choosing the
CSV save as file type, but I will double check
that. That certainly would cause what I'm seeing.

-- TRW
_______________________________________
t i m . w i t o r t
_______________________________________
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top