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Excel hates CSV only if you don't use the "From text / csv" function (under the data tab).

For whatever reason, it flawlessly manages to import most CSV data using that functionality. It is the only way I can reliably import data to excel with datestamps / formats.

Just drag/dropping a CSV file onto a spreadsheet, or "open with excel" sucks.

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Even "From Text / CSV" sucks:

It inserts an extra row at the top for its pivot table, with entries "Column1, Column2, ...".

So if you export to CSV again, you now have 2 header rows.

So Excel can't roundtrip CSVs, and the more often you roundtrip, the more header rows you get.

You need to remember to manually delete the added header row each time, otherwise software you export back to can't read it.

That's strange, I've never seen this behaviour. Loading a CSV this way (Data -> From Text/CSV) always parses the first record as the header for me.

It does parse the first row as the header, but it inserts it as the second row, and the first row becomes another header.

It creates a green/white coloured pivot table -- do you also observe that?

Yea they seem to have added this about a year ago and it works pretty well, to be fair.

Now if they would just also allow pasting CSV data as “source” it would be great.

It's a carry over from powerbi actually, separate function entirely.

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