Excel pro tips: Importing and parsing data

Data imported from other spreadsheets or databases is already separated into fields, using something called a field delimiter--a comma, tab, space, or custom character--to separate one field from another. These databases import easily into Excel and place all the fields in separate columns. If your company pays bills and/or banks online, these sites usually offer copies of the company's records in electronic form. CSV (comma separated values) is the most common data exchange format and, if offered, the best one to use. But what happens when all the data imports into one cell?