Fixing ZIP Codes and Missing 0's in CSV/Excel

Often, certain fields (like ZIP Codes) display correctly in Report Toaster but do not export correctly to CSV/Excel.

You may notice this problem when you open up the Excel file the field displays without the first 0s. 

This happens because Excel tries to convert what it sees as a Number, rather than interpreting it as Text. 

The solution is thankfully fairly straightforward. 

1.) Open up a blank excel file (or simply open up Microsoft Excel and start a blank workbook). 
2.) Go to the data tab, click 'From Text/CSV". 
3.) Browse to your original file location (probably downloads) and click Import. 
4.) A window should pop up that looks something like this:

As you can see you have several options for selecting the File Origin text type and Delimiter (typically, we found UTF-8 and Comma work best, but feel free to adjust as needed). 

Click the Transform data button at the bottom. This opens up the Power Query editor in a new window. 

5.) From here, click the column header for the row in question (Address / Zip). Make sure Data Type: Text is selected in the menu at the top. Notice that now the ZIPs are formatted correctly with zeros at the beginning?

6.) Once you're happy with it, click Close & Load (top left). This will result in a correct excel file. 

For more information about using Report Toaster, check out our FAQ or reach out to us at any time :)

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