[mark-r]

I would wager more people open a CSV by double-clicking on it rather than using the import data wizard. And even if you use the wizard it takes extra work to specify the type of each column, which most people won't bother with.

Writing some VBA is a simple process if you're a programmer. I wonder how many genetic researchers fit that description?

P.S. when I said "too late to fix it", I meant by some process within Excel. Of course you can re-import the original file, but maybe you only notice the problem after you've done a lot of work with it?

[tssva]

Expecting you to learn the basics about the tools you're using is not expecting too much. And if you are too lazy to spend a few seconds specifying data types then you get what you deserve.

[fshr]

> Expecting you to learn the basics about the tools you're using is not expecting too much.

Do you/have you worked in a corporate environment? You seem to have an idealistic view about how end users are expected to use Excel.

[tssva]

I worked in corporate environments for decades.

The original comment I responded to said they regularly imported large data sets and the in the case of the genetists they also are regularly importing data into Excel. In other words Excel is a regularly used and fundamental tool to their work. In this case I would expect someone to learn the basics of using it. Just as I would expect a developer to learn their editor, build system, version control system, etc.