I have the Upload Template and understand the columns, commas, etc. at least for now because I haven't yet tried to upload. My question is that I am in MA and most zip codes start with '0'. The csv file doesn't allow the change in cell format to special so that the leading '0' doesn't get dropped. Is this added on your end or can I anticipate that I will need to edit all of these?

Thanks,

Sally

1. In Excel, select the cells containing zip codes.
2. On the Format menu click Cells.
3. In the Category list click Special.
4. In the Type list click "Zip Code + 4" and then click OK. If your current download file has all 5 digit zip codes, then change the Special format type to "Zip code" instead of "Zip code + 4".

I did try that but as soon as I save the file back to csv, this format gets wiped out and goes back to "general". I didn't think I could upload the file as an xls. Can I?

Have you tried changing the column format to "TEXT"? Then the leading zeros will not be removed.

(edited to remove STRING and replace with TEXT)

I think you want to format the ZIP code column as "text" which will retain the leading zeros when you re-save it as a CSV file.

This is true for any class creator client with some members living in New England where the leading zeroes can be found in ZIP codes for NH, ME, MA, NJ, RI and VT

Thanks, John - too much JAVA development - forgot the word "text"

Too much Java - keeps you awake!

Java (the programming language) is what I was referring to (you probably already know that.)

Yep; just making a 'double play' on the word.

I don't see STRING as a formatting choice but would guess that the same thing will happen that saving to a csv file, close the file and then reopen and you will see that the '0's are gone.

Sarah Chisholm wrote:

Sorry Sarah: Welcome to the Help Forums and Class Creator.

Kyle and I got off the track. See my post above about formatting the ZIP code column as "text" which will preserve the leading zeroes when you save the file as CSV. That will work.

I think if you set the column format to "TEXT" then your problems will go away and when you export to CSV, you will get the leading zeros.

Thanks everyone. When I reopen the csv file on my computer regardless of what I format, the zeros disappear but I just uploaded a couple classmates and the zeros come back so all is well.

Many thanks!