CSV file import – "bad column" error

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  • Plugin Author Robert Heller

    (@robertpheller)

    10 years, 1 month ago

    Excel is notorious for creating ‘bad’ (non-standard) CSV files. Have the client look at the CSV file with a *plain text editor* (notepad will probably do).

    Some of the things Excel does:

    1. add extra columns
    2. use unnecessary quotes (which can be confusing, since “” is not an empty string, but a quoted quote.)
    3. play games with newline characters
    4. not actually use commas (eg tabs instead).
    Plugin Author Robert Heller

    (@robertpheller)

    10 years, 1 month ago

    It is also important that the header line be coded in pure ASCII and not contain extra spaces. Eg ” Author” is not the same as “author”. This is potientally non-obvious to a non-techie and may not be noticable when looking at the Excel spreadsheet with Excel.

    Plugin Author Robert Heller

    (@robertpheller)

    10 years, 1 month ago

    Oh, it is important that the data values not excede field lengths or violate field type constraints.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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