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CSVImportGuideFINALV1.12018-03-01
ThisshortguidedemonstrateshowtoprepareandopenaCSVdatafileusingaspreadsheetapplicationsuchasExcel.
Itdoesnotcoverallpossiblewaystoopenfiles.Itisintendedtodrawattentiontoproblemsthatcanbeavoidedwhenworkingwithdatafilesinthisformat.
CSVImportGuide
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Pleasenote:
GLEIFdoesnotprovidetoolsupport,sowearenotabletogivedetailedadviceonyourorganization’sparticularsystemsorworkflows.Theexampleshereareforillustrationandyoumayneedtoadapttoyourlocaloperatingsystemand/orapplication.WerecommendconsultingyourITteamforanycomplextasks.
1. Downloadfile
FirstdownloadthefilefromtheGLEIF.orgwebsite.
Right-clickonthefileandselect“SaveAs…”tosavethefilelocally(pleasedonotopenityet).
Thedatafilehasthefilenameextension“.csv”.
Donotdoubleclickthedatafileimmediately.
2. OpenExcel
Oncethedatafilehasbeendownloaded,donotdirectlyopenit.
§ Instead,findyourspreadsheetapplication(e.g.Excel)andopenit.§ Createanew(blank)workbook:
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WithsomeversionsofExcelyoumayneedtodothisfromamenu,suchas:
3. Setupimport
Onceanewworkbookisopen,selectthisoptionfromtheFilemenu:
Import…
Adialogwillnowbegin,guidingyouthroughthestepsofimportingafile.
Youneedtorepeatthestepsinsections2untiltheend,foreachfileyouwishtouse.
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4. Importdialog
4.1. Selectfiletype
1. SelectCSV.2. ClickImport.
4.2. Selectdata(file)formats
Thenextstepmaybedifferent,dependingontheoperatingsystem,application,andeventheversionofExcel.
Iftheapplicationsetsanyofthefollowingvaluescorrectly,pleasedonotchangethem:
§ ThedatamustberecognizedasDelimited.§ Theimportmuststartatrow:1.§ Themostimportantsettingmaynotyetbedetected:
Unicode(UTF–8)
Pleaseseethenextpageforanexample.
MakesurethatallsettingsthatofferUnicodeand/orUTF–8aresettothisvalueonly.
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DonotclickFinish.InsteadalwaysclickNextuntilthefinalstepiscomplete.
4.3. Setdelimitersandqualifiers
TheCSVfilecontainstwotypesofspecialformattingcharactersthattellyourapplicationwheretosplitthetextintocolumnsandrows:
§ Thedelimitersarecommas(,).§ Thequalifiersaredoublequotationmarks(“).
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Ifyourapplicationdetectstheseautomaticallypleasedonotchangethevalues;simplyclickNext.
Ifanyadditionalvalues(e.g.“Tab”)areselected,pleasede-selectthem.
OnlyComma(,)forDelimitersanddoublequotationmarks(“)forTextqualifierarecorrect.
4.4. Setdata(content)format
ThefinalstepistosetdatacontentformatsthatareusedbyExceltodisplayandinsomecases,process,thedata.
ThisisessentialforfilescontainingLEIs.
§ SettheLEIcolumntoTextasshowninthenextscreenshot.§ The“General”typecancauseproblemswithsomelongsequencesofnumbers.
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§
OnlyclickFinishwhenallofthestepshavebeenchecked.
Pleasenote:
§ Whenworkingwithverylargefiles,downloading,openingandmanipulatingthefilemaybeinterruptedsometimesduetoe.g.lackofsufficientmemory.
§ Forlargefilesthiscouldbeimpracticalandaspecializedtoole.g.adedicatedCSVeditororparser,isneeded.
§ Fordetailedtechnicalassistanceusingyourapplication,pleaseconsulttheofficialapplicationdocumentation.Forexample,detailedinformationonimportingCSVfilestoMicrosoftExcelcanbefoundat:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Import-or-export-text-txt-or-csv-files-5250ac4c-663c-47ce-937b-339e391393ba
