Importing Text into Microsoft Excel

If you use Microsoft Excel to edit data that you exported from Vocera, the program may automatically change some values into Number or Date format.

To prevent Excel from changing the format of values, import the data into Excel as text.

Note: To avoid data conversion problems caused by Microsoft Excel, use a different spreadsheet program, such as OpenOffice Calc (http://

To import text into Microsoft Excel:

  1. Change the filename extension of the file you exported from Vocera from .csv to .txt.
  2. Start Microsoft Excel.
  3. Open the file that you renamed in step 1.
    The Text Import Wizard appears.
  4. In the Original Data Type box, select Delimited. Click Next.
    Step 2 of the Text Import Wizard appears.
  5. In the Delimiters box, make sure only Comma is checked. Click Next.
    Step 3 of the Text Import Wizard appears.
  6. In the Data Preview box, select all columns. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. Click the column heading for the first column.
    2. Use the horizontal scrollbar to scroll to the last column.
    3. Press and hold the Shift key, and then click the column heading for the last column.

    All columns should now be highlighted in black.

  7. In the Column Data Format box, select Text. Click Finish.
    The data is imported as text.