After export to CSV File, Serial Numbers are shown in Scientific Notation

Microsoft Excel converts long numbers into Scientific Notation when opening as CSV. This occurs even after changing the cell formatting to TEXT.

Some possible workarounds are discussed online such as here: 

https://superuser.com/questions/452832/turn-off-scientific-notation-in-excel/720940#:~:text=Unfortunately%20excel%20does%20not%20allow,your%20data%20to%20scientific%20notation.

 

Here are the two best workarounds we know of:

 

Use GET DATA to import the data without formatting

If you are using Office 365 you can open the CSV without Microsoft wrongly formatting the data: 

1. Select DATA from the top menu.

2. Click GET DATA - From File - From CSV.

3. Select the file and click IMPORT.

4. Under "Data Type Detection" select "Do not detect data types."

5. Click LOAD.

 

Create a new column to hold the correct data

1. Insert a new column next to the Serial Number column. 

2. Select a cell and add the formula:

=CONCATENATE(A1)       

*Where A1 is the Serial Number column. In this example the column is AO179:

3. Select the cell and COPY it.

4. Select the NEW column and paste to put the formula in each cell. 

5. This creates a new column that shows the data as text normally.