Some of my older .csv files don't open properly in Calc

benawhile · August 11, 2020, 9:24am

I’ve saved a whole load of bank statements that I downloaded from my bank in the form of .csv files, but, with one exception, hardly anything opens properly that I saved before last November, which incidentally is when I switched from Lubuntu to LinuxMint.

The ones since November all open automatically in Calc and when I right click on them the green Libreoffice Calc icon and text are presented.

The previous ones do not have the green Calc icon on rt click, but under “open with” > “other application” Libreoffice calc is presented as the default.
However only two of these open correctly, the others open in a jumbled format which I recognise but don’t know how to describe, so without a screenshot I am a bit stuffed, but here is an example in text:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<gnm:Workbook xmlns:gnm=“http://www.gnumeric.org/v10.dtd” xmlns:xsi=“http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance” xsi:schemaLocation=“http://www.gnumeric.org/v9.xsd”>
<gnm:Version Epoch=“1” Major=“12” Minor=“28” Full=“1.12.28”/>

I would like to send screenshots but I have looked all over the internet and can’t find a basic tutorial for the markdown system.

alt text

What is the ! For? Do I have to include it in the text?

[alt text] Do I have to put anything in here? If not, should I still post the empty brackets?
If I do, how do I do it? It seems to be some sort of language. I’ve seen examples but they have extra symbols and codes as well as text.

(/path/img.jpg “title”) Is this for hosted images? Does it have to be .jpg?

Below is a copied and pasted link to the intended screenshot posts that I got from imgur, but how does it translate into the format above?

(Screenshot .csv right and wrong format - Album on Imgur)

It works for me now, but I don’t know if that’s because I am logged in to the site or what…

Also I can’t enter more than one tag. How do you separate them? I wanted to enter .csv as well but couldn’t get it accepted.

gabix · August 11, 2020, 9:43am

The code sample you presented is not a CSV file, it is, as I understand, a Gnumeric file. Try to force the Gnumeric spreadsheet file type in the open dialog.

I would like to send screenshots

It is always better to share sample files, not screenshots.

ajlittoz · August 11, 2020, 9:48am

This looks like your initial question. 259628/some-of-my-older-csv-files-dont-open-properly-in-calc posted a few minutes later contains “works for me”, but nonetheless creating a duplicate.

You should either have edited this question or created an answer below. Please clarify the issue, e.g. deleting one, but take care of eventual comments.

benawhile · August 11, 2020, 11:04am

Sorry ajiitoz, It appears that you, or someone, have closed the duplicated question for me. There is no option to delete, only to undelete. Do I still need to do anything?

benawhile · August 11, 2020, 11:10am

ajlittoz, it looks like someone has closed the duplicated question. There is no option to delete, only to undelete. Do I need to do anything?

benawhile · August 11, 2020, 11:13am

gabix, I would like to improve my answer but need a response from you first to this question: If I open a .csv file in gnumeric or libreoffice calc and then modify and save it, does it then become a gnumeric file or a calc file even though the extension is still .csv? What is the correct way to handle .csv files?

gabix · August 11, 2020, 11:28am

LibreOffice will ask you to confirm to save to CSV (as it does for any foreign file format) or to ODS. If you choose to proceed with ODS, you will be prompted to specify the file (name) to save. Thus, unless you force another file name extension, it will be .ods.

As for Gnumeric, I have no idea.

ajlittoz · August 11, 2020, 11:53am

I never delete a question without OP’s approval because I could meet a cross-action (race condition) working on occurrence A while someone else is working on occurrence B. So someone else did it.

For your question about .csv extension: the file will open in the application designated in the OS configuration. Unless you ask for a change in configuration (or answer positively a question by the OS), temporarily editing the file with a “foreign” app does not change the mapping between extension and application.

benawhile · August 11, 2020, 11:56am

What is ODS? Do you mean ODF?

gabix · August 11, 2020, 11:58am

ODS = OpenDocument Spreadsheet. It is a subset of ODF.

benawhile · August 11, 2020, 2:18pm

Thank you both for your response, good to sort out so quickly. I can’t see how to contact robleyd to ask him to just delete that question. I do find this type of forum easy to make mistakes in for basic level users.

gabix · August 11, 2020, 2:56pm

This is not a forum. This is a questions-and-answers site.

benawhile · August 11, 2020, 10:54am

gabix, thank you for quickly spotting the problem. So the problem of the older files not opening was caused because they were created on a different OS using a different spreadsheet program to the current libreoffice calc: Gnumeric. The way Gnumeric saves the files as .csv is not compatible with the way libreoffice calc opens them. I have now installed gnumeric and can open the files. From gnumeric I can save them as 1.2 .odt so that they will at least open in calc, although the date column needs widening or is filled with asterixes, but I can work with that.