CSV Import: Trouble Loading CSV

Omeka S Modules
#1

Hello,

I am having trouble with a CSV file I wish to import. I save a UTF-8 copy off the original .xlsx which retains the correct date formatting unless I open the CSV. I have tried uploading it without opening it first; however, I receive the following error: “The rows are not all the same number of columns.” This error is easily resolved by opening the CSV in Excel but then the date formats are lost. I am using semi-colons as the delimiter.

I know there is a way around this I just can’t recall what I did previously. Any advice would be appreciated.

#2

What are you using to open the CSV as mentioned in your second sentence? Do you have a copy/sample of this file I could look at? Windows/Mac/Linux?

#3

Thanks for the reply. I have opened it both in Excel (which changes the formatting) but also in Notepad (prior to opening the CSV for the first time) and I can see there the dates are formatted correctly. What’s the best way to send you a sample? Windows.

#4

I can take email (trip.kirkpatrick@yale.edu), or you can post it on Dropbox or your preferred fileshare. There’s also a file upload here in the forums, if the file’s not a giant.

#5

Solved.

The .xlsx file was downloaded from Google Docs which may have created a column of blank content on one side. Deleting this in the .xlsx and saving to CSV seemed to clear up this issue (right click > delete seemed to work better than simply using the delete key to clear the column data). Additionally, saving as “CSV (comma delimited) (*.csv)” in Excel seemed to consistently work better than saving as a UTF-8 CSV. This CSV was then opened in NotePad and re-saved using UTF-8 encoding. It was not opened in Excel prior to importing in Omeka, as this would have changed the date formatting.

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