Excel – How to import external csv/text file WITHOUT table formatting

The following site shows the VB macro code to perform the export https://support.chartio.com/knowledgebase/exporting-csv-files-with-double-quotes-from-excel

1. Open your CSV file in Excel > Find and replace all instances of double quotes (").

2. Follow the instructions provided in this Microsoft KB article. However, instead of using the macro provided in the Microsoft KB article, use the one below in its place.

Sub QuoteCommaExport()
    ' Dimension all variables.
    Dim DestFile As String
    Dim FileNum As Integer
    Dim ColumnCount As Long
    Dim RowCount As Long
    Dim MaxRow As Long
    Dim MaxCol As Long


   ' Prompt user for destination file name.
   DestFile = InputBox("Enter the destination filename" _
  & Chr(10) & "(with complete path):", "Quote-Comma Exporter")

   ' Obtain next free file handle number.
   FileNum = FreeFile()

   ' Turn error checking off.
   On Error Resume Next

   ' Attempt to open destination file for output.
   Open DestFile For Output As #FileNum

   ' If an error occurs report it and end.
   If Err <> 0 Then
      MsgBox "Cannot open filename " & DestFile
      End
   End If

   ' Turn error checking on.
   On Error GoTo 0

   MaxRow = ActiveSheet.UsedRange.Rows.Count
   MaxCol = Selection.Columns.Count

   MsgBox "Processing this many rows: " & MaxRow 
   MsgBox "Processing this many columns: " & MaxCol

   ' Loop for each row in selection.
   For RowCount = 1 To MaxRow

      ' Loop for each column in selection.
      For ColumnCount = 1 To MaxCol

          ' Write current cell's text to file with quotation marks.
          Print #FileNum, """" & Selection.Cells(RowCount, _
          ColumnCount).Text & """";

          ' Check if cell is in last column.
          If ColumnCount = MaxCol Then
              ' If so, then write a blank line.
              Print #FileNum,
          Else
             ' Otherwise, write a comma.
             Print #FileNum, ",";
          End If
          ' Start next iteration of ColumnCount loop.
      Next ColumnCount
  ' Start next iteration of RowCount loop.
  Next RowCount

' Close destination file.
Close #FileNum
End Sub

Steps to import CSV:

1) Open Excel file into which you want to import the CSV (Or just open Excel to a blank workbook)

2) In the ribbon, go to Data tab and click on "From Text/CSV"

3) Select the CSV file that you want to import.

4) In the dialog where you are shown a preview of how the data looks, where the header has the name of the CSV file, click on Edit at the bottom (which is in between Load and Cancel)

5) Excel will now open a "Query Editor" as though the CSV file was a database to connect to. Here, you can change the data formats if you want to by selecting the column(s) and "Data Type" button in the "Transform" section of the "Home" tab in the Query Editor's ribbon. (Pro Tip: Select any cell and press Ctrl+a to select all the data ;) )

6) If you change the data type(s) Excel 2016 will ask you if you want to "Replace current" or "Add new step". I clicked on Replace current, but I guess for some scenarios, you would need to click on Add new step.

7) Now, click on the "Close & Load" button (should be the first one) on the Home tab.

8) You will see the data inserted into a new sheet, but it's still "connected" to it's data source (the CSV file) so click on "Unlink" in the Design tab's External Table Data section and click on OK to remove the query definition from the sheet.

9) Finally, you will need to delete the "Query" which would be open in a sidebar when you closed and loaded the CSV data into Excel. To do that, right click on the query entry, select "Delete" and confirm the delete action.

You can now close the Queries and Connections sidebar and enjoy working on your imported data!