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Excel won't import ISO 8601 timestamps either, which is crazy these days where it's the universal standard, and there's no excuse to use anything else. You hav

Excel won't import ISO 8601 timestamps either, which is crazy these days where it's the universal standard, and there's no excuse to use anything else. You have to replace the "T" separator with a space and also any trailing "Z" UTC suffix (and I think any other timezone/offset as well?) for Excel to be able to parse as a time/date.

macintux 2y ago
Honestly I’m happier when Excel doesn’t try to convert anything. too much bugginess.
- inglor_cz 2y ago
  Especially gene names. It was so bad that the scientific community renamed the genes in question rather than suffering from the same horror endlessly. [0] https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/6/21355674/human-genes-rename-microsoft-excel-misreading-dates https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/6/21355674/human-genes-renam...
  - gibibit 2y ago
    Just wrong!!
TrackerFF 2y ago
Have you tried using the "from text/csv" importer under the data tab? Where it will import your data into a table. Because that one will import ISO 8601 timestamps just fine.
- Suppafly 2y ago
  This, it's dumb but Excel handles csv way better if you 'import' it vs just opening it. I use excel to quickly preview csv files, but never to edit them unless I'm OK only ever using it in Excel afterwards.
  - calfuris 2y ago
    Even in that case I'd be hesitant to open a CSV file in excel. The problem is that it will automatically apply whatever transformation it thinks is appropriate the moment you open the file. Have a digit string that isn't semantically a number? Too bad, it's a number now, and we're gonna go ahead and round it. You didn't really need _all_ of the digits of that insurance policy number, did you? They did finally add options to turn off the common offenders, but I have a deeply ingrained distrust at this point.
    - Suppafly 2y ago
      I've noticed recently, they ask you about some of the transformations with a popup instead of automatically doing them when you open csv files.
jandrese 2y ago
I usually have the opposite problem. There's even a joke about it: How is Excel like an Incel? Both of them think everything is a date.

macintux 2y ago

Honestly I’m happier when Excel doesn’t try to convert anything. too much bugginess.

inglor_cz 2y ago
Especially gene names. It was so bad that the scientific community renamed the genes in question rather than suffering from the same horror endlessly. [0] https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/6/21355674/human-genes-rename-microsoft-excel-misreading-dates https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/6/21355674/human-genes-renam...
- gibibit 2y ago
  Just wrong!!

TrackerFF 2y ago

Have you tried using the "from text/csv" importer under the data tab? Where it will import your data into a table. Because that one will import ISO 8601 timestamps just fine.

Suppafly 2y ago
This, it's dumb but Excel handles csv way better if you 'import' it vs just opening it. I use excel to quickly preview csv files, but never to edit them unless I'm OK only ever using it in Excel afterwards.
- calfuris 2y ago
  Even in that case I'd be hesitant to open a CSV file in excel. The problem is that it will automatically apply whatever transformation it thinks is appropriate the moment you open the file. Have a digit string that isn't semantically a number? Too bad, it's a number now, and we're gonna go ahead and round it. You didn't really need _all_ of the digits of that insurance policy number, did you? They did finally add options to turn off the common offenders, but I have a deeply ingrained distrust at this point.
  - Suppafly 2y ago
    I've noticed recently, they ask you about some of the transformations with a popup instead of automatically doing them when you open csv files.

jandrese 2y ago

I usually have the opposite problem. There's even a joke about it: How is Excel like an Incel? Both of them think everything is a date.