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This is what happens when Excel "fixes" my pasted data. The copy source is Notepad++. I never want this to happen. How do I turn all modifications of data into Excel off - forcing "text" as the data type? The data is permanently modified upon pasting to Excel. Paste special "keep text only" is the only paste option - and it still converts incorrectly the dates, and the text to numbers. The data is ruined permanently within the context of Excel unless running text import wizard every time.

Before and after Excel ruins everything

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  • possible duplicate of prevent excel formatting as number
    – Sun
    Commented Oct 14, 2014 at 15:19
  • You might want to clarify in your post, what data you are bringing in, how you expect it to appear in Excel, and how you actually want it to appear. Is there a way for you to share the original text file with us (with the data redacted or dummy data)? I'm having a hard time reproducing your issue. I see column B is dropping the front zeroes. And it looks like Column H is bringing is seeing Oct 13, 2014 as Dec 13, 2010?
    – Sun
    Commented Oct 14, 2014 at 15:28

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There are two steps you need to follow in order to achieve the same,

  • Select all columns you are going to paste data to and convert them to TEXT format
  • Use Paste special and choose Text Only or Match destination formatting (I currently don't have access to Excel to verify exactly which option it is!)
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  • Nope, manually set all cells to Text, did a special a paste as text only and this did not work. Also data was still permanently altered with Excel context.
    – sammarcow
    Commented Oct 13, 2014 at 16:33

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