CSV guide · Excel

CSV won't open correctly in Excel

When Excel puts everything into one column or changes accents, the file may still be recoverable. The problem is often the format guess.

Why it happens

Excel uses regional settings. A file exported with semicolons or another encoding can display badly even when the raw text is still usable.

How Piojo Lab detects it

Piojo Lab compares delimiters, looks for UTF-8/BOM signals, and highlights row-shape risks before you save over the original.

What to do before importing

Use the report to choose the right separator and encoding, or download a corrected copy when the repair is safe.

When not to automate

If Excel already transformed dates or long IDs, compare against the original source before saving.

Quick questions

Why is everything in one column?

Usually because Excel expected a different delimiter.

Does Piojo Lab overwrite my file?

No. It creates a separate report or corrected copy.

Test the file before touching your system

Drop a CSV or TSV into the analyzer. The diagnosis runs in your browser, samples are truncated, and the report does not include the filename.

Open local analyzer