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Clean, Validate, and Protect Data in Excel

Importing data into Excel

CSV files must be imported into Excel for all Excel features to function, whereas Excel documents can be opened directly.

CSV Delimiters

A variety of delimiters can be chosen when importing text data into Excel. To import a CSV, select “comma” as the delimiter.

Formatting in Excel

Excel is built to auto-format dates and numbers, and that behavior can be controlled with custom formatting.

Trimming Whitespace in Excel

Whitespace can be trimmed in Excel using =TRIM() to make data more uniform.

Truncating Text in Excel

Text can be truncated in Excel using =LEFT() and specifying the cell containing the text and the number of characters to include (from the start of the text.)

Converting to Lowercase in Excel

Text can be converted to lowercase in Excel using =LOWER().

Protecting sheets in Excel

Viewing and/or editing cells, sheets, and ranges in Excel can be controlled by protecting and hiding sheets.

Security in Excel

Protected cells, sheets, and ranges in Excel can still be viewed by opening the file in a different program.

Comma Separated Values (CSV)

CSV (Comma-separated values) files represent plain text in the form of a spreadsheet that use comma to separate individual values. This type of file is easy to manage and compatible with many different platforms. This file can be imported to a database or to an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) to work with its content.

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