Unless you instruct it to interpret the field as a string.
> but in healthcare, 10 digit numbers are really strings.
I'm wondering, if you expect 10 digits and you get less than that, how difficult is it to add some padding zeroes?
I had a package get seriously delayed one time because it kept being sent to a city whose 5 digit zip code was equal to [my 5 digit zip code, less its leading 0, and the first digit of my +4]. Fun times.
Except double clicking a CSV does not give you the option to do this. At this point Excel already decided to corrupt your data. And guess how most users open CSV files? That's right, they double click.
> I'm wondering, if you expect 10 digits and you get less than that, how difficult is it to add some padding zeroes?
If you expect 10 digits and get less than that, you have corrupted input data. Trying to "fix" this is exactly the sin excel is committing. Don't do that.
Or prepend a letter when producing the CSV to avoid EXCEL doing what it does.
I also work in healthcare.