Cant open as CSV + save as .CSV breaks layout?

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#1

Hey!

Im using LO to create and upload inventory files for Amazon and eBay etc. But I can’t save the csv file templates without all the data being jumbled and moved around to different rows and columns next time its opened? Also, extra quotation marks are being added to some cells. If a cell has quotation marks in the text like a measurement 18" for example, it ends up like “18"”"

The options selected upon opening the file are: Character set: Unicode (UTF-8) Separated by: Comma.

Another problem is that saving as csv does not preserve any formatting such bold text in some rows and some colour coding on certain rows. Can this be saved in a csv file?

Any help much appreciated!

Thanks for replying. I have also tried opening in google sheets as a workaround and the problem is the same there too!

Here is the export setting too. I got rid of the extra quotation marks problem by removing " from the String Delimiter field and leaving blank

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#2

Please edit your question and attach a screenshot of the import window.

#3

If a cell has quotation marks in the text like a measurement 18" for example, it ends up like “18"”"

It has to be like that, that’s how it is defined in the CSV convention. Setting the “string delimiter” to empty is a workaround, but bear in mind it may lead to problems when reading the file back in with other programs if text starts with a quote character and they do not offer that choice.

Another problem is that saving as csv does not preserve any formatting such bold text in some rows and some colour coding on certain rows. Can this be saved in a csv file?

No. CSV is a text only format, no rich text decoration whatsoever.

Seeing the screenshot of the import dialog I notice you are using CSV export/import for HTML snippets. That may or may not work; as long as each line is kept in one cell it may work, but may fail if text contains comma, either during export or during import. I suggest you use the Tab field separator instead of comma, as white space in HTML is not significant.

#4

No I don’t want snippets, the problem is that all the html should be in one cell only, the cell for description. This is an inventory upload file for ebay. That is the only cell that contains any html. Only when saved as csv it becomes spread everywhere and all other cells are moved around.

#5

Are you sure, neither the html nor text contains any comma ??
HTML uses the comma itself and html is no csv. As suggested above inserting tabs as separator may help.

Is it necessary to re-import the file?

J.

#6

The html does contain a few commas yes. It has to in the text body because it’s a product description and needs grammar. I have used csv uploads to add the inventory with the same description to shopify in the past, and it worked fine without any problems, so I know it can be done, but I cannot figure out what is going wrong now.
Sorry I do not know what you mean by re-import the file? Or inserting tabs as a separator? What does that mean?
Thanks for all your responses.

#7

When you removed string delimiter, you had destroyed the ability of CSV to mask comma (and other special characters like newlines) inside cells. Why quoted text should be a problem itself? See Shopify’s help describing how they expect quotes around texts - e.g., tags.

#8

OK thanks, I can replace the " string delimiter but the layout was all jumbled before I tried removing the string delimiter. I will try choosing tab as separator with comma deselected and see if ebay accepts the upload in this format…
Thanks everyone for your suggestions :slight_smile:

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