CSV export: export in unrecognized characters

11 posts by 4 authors in: Forums > CMS Builder: Plugins & Add-ons
Last Post: March 1, 2019   (RSS)

By andreasml - February 13, 2019

Hi

I have activated the CSV export plugin. Unfortunately, when i open the csv file with Excel (Mac version), unrecognized characters appear, and when I use the Excel Windows version all fields are included in one cell again with unknown characters (you can see in the example below). I need to note that I am using either English or Greek language

4,"2019-01-26 12:32:52","7","2019-02-09 10:30:49","1","YES","YES","ΞουτσοΟΞ³ΞµΟΞ±Ο‚","Αθανάσιος","10063601859","Male","Male","83","Lazaris Andreas","ΠΓΠΑττικΟΞ½","ΠΓΠΑττικΟΞ½","4062974","2018-12-02 00:00:00","1543701600"," Smoker History of stroke ","Smoker, History of stroke","Smoker, History of stroke","3","3","Aneurysm post-EVAR/TEVAR - endoleak","Aneurysm post-EVAR/TEVAR - endoleak","Fusiform","Fusiform","Juxtarenal","Juxtarenal","Juxtarenal aorta","Juxtarenal aorta","Common iliac artery","Common iliac artery","Asymptomatic","Asymptomatic"," No symptoms ","No symptoms","No symptoms","","","","82","2019-01-22 00:00:00","1548108000","Standard operating theatre","Standard operating theatre","Open repair","Open repair","Transperitoneal - midline","Transperitoneal - midline","Supraceliac","Supraceliac","Vascular clamp","Vascular clamp","10","Bifurcated (iliac)","Bifurcated (iliac)","Dacron","Dacron","2"," None ","None","None","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","ΥποδιαφΟαγματικος αποκλεισμΟΟ‚ Ξ±Οχικά (Ο‡ΟΟΞ½ΞΏΟ‚ Ξ±Ο€ΞΏΞΊΞ»ΞµΞΉΟƒΞΌΞΏΟ 10 min) ΞΊΞ±ΞΉ ακολοΟθως υπεΟΞ½ΞµΟ†ΟΞΉΞΊΟΟ‚ (Ο‡ΟΟΞ½ΞΏΟ‚ ολικΟΟ‚ Ξ±Ο€ΞΏΞΊΞ»ΞµΞΉΟƒΞΌΞΏΟ Ξ½ΞµΟ†ΟΟΞ½ 25 min). ","2019-02-01 00:00:00","1548972000","Dead","Dead"," Bleeding (requring reoperation or increased transfusion overall > 10 RBC) Intestinal ischemia (requiring operation) Renal failure (permanent - on dialysis) Prolonged mechanical ventilation ","Bleeding (requring reoperation or increased transfusion overall > 10 RBC), Intestinal ischemia (requiring operation), Renal failure (permanent - on dialysis), Prolonged mechanical ventilation","Bleeding (requring reoperation or increased transfusion overall > 10 RBC), Intestinal ischemia (requiring operation), Renal failure (permanent - on dialysis), Prolonged mechanical ventilation","","",""," Laparotomy - colon resection Laparotomy - small intestine resection ","Laparotomy - colon resection, Laparotomy - small intestine resection","Laparotomy - colon resection, Laparotomy - small intestine resection","3Ξ· ΞΤΧ : Ξ•Οευητικη κοιλιάς, Ξ½Ξ­ΞΊΟωση σιγμοειδους, σιγμοειδεκτομη Hartmann

Kind regards

Andreas Lazaris

By Steve99 - February 14, 2019

Hi,

Have you tried looking at the file contents in a regular TXT editor to see how they appear there?

Check to see if Excel is opening the CSV as "Standard" or "Text" for the Column Type. I believe you'll want to make sure it's set as "Text" for the Column Type. I use LibreOffice but they both work similarly.

Best,
Steve

By andreasml - February 14, 2019

Hi Steve

I checked with TextEdit and it seems there are no non-recognizable characters there. Additionally, when I use the Numbers software (Excel likewise software), everything seems ok. However, the problem with Microsoft Excel is still there: non-recognizable characters and all data in one cell.

Andreas

By Steve99 - February 15, 2019

Hi Andreas,

Okay, that's a good sign knowing the data displays properly in those programs :)

As for Excel, it must be the data import options. For example, if the delimiter is set to something other than Comma all data would display in one cell. You'd want to make sure the delimiter is set as Comma and text qualifier as "double quotes". The characters display issue is likely the Column Data Format, which you'll want to make sure is set as Text.

Here's a pretty good data import wizard walk-through with screen shots:
https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/user-guides/import-csv

Best,
Steve

By Steve99 - February 15, 2019

Hi Andreas,

Might need the Microsoft Office Language Accessory Pack:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/language-accessory-pack-for-office-82ee1236-0f9a-45ee-9c72-05b026ee809f

If that doesn't help, offhand I honestly wouldn't be sure what the next troubleshooting step would be. Hopefully that does help, or someone else might have some additional insight.

Best,
Steve

By Dave - February 22, 2019

Andreas, I wanted to check if you got this resolved or are you still having issues with it? 

Dave Edis - Senior Developer

interactivetools.com

By andreasml - February 22, 2019

Hi Dave

Thank you for your interest. Unfortunately, the problem still exists as long as it regards the Microsoft Excel. On the contrary, it seems to work well in Apple Numbers. 

Anyways, thank again for your update.

Andreas

By Dave - February 27, 2019

Hi Andreas, 

I did some research on this and found the answer.  Much of the content on the web is encoding in what's called UTF8.  In UTF8 multiple bytes are sometimes used to encode a single character.  It turns out that Excel has very poor support for UTF8.  So it's showing you the individual bytes.

If you manually select the character set it will work.  Here's how I did it on my computer:

  1. Open Microsoft Office 365
  2. Click "Data" Tab > From File > From Text/CSV
  3. Select filename
  4. Select "From Origin": 65001: Unicode (UTF-8)

References: 

Hope that helps!

Dave Edis - Senior Developer

interactivetools.com

By andreasml - March 1, 2019

Hi Dave

Thank you for your reply.

Regards

Andreas