Save as CSV excel 2016 mac

Question

Save as CSV excel 2016 mac

Anonymous

Hi there,

I am trying to save an excel sheet as csv.

It is a list of products with prices etc. that I need to upload to our point of sales system in our store.

When I save it as csv it says that it has done it but there are some strange things:

when I open it after closing it it still looks like xls and not csv
when I try to upload it our POS rejects it
when I asked the support person from POS they told me my csv file throws it all in to one column

I found the following on the web but I can't get it to work and there is no OPTIONS under FILE in office 2016 for mac.

***1.>***Change File format to .CSV (semicolon delimited)

To achieve the desired result we need to temporary change the delimiter setting in the Excel Options.

Move to File -> Options -> Advanced -> Editing Section

Uncheck the “Use system separators” setting and put a comma in the***“Decimal Separator”*** field.

Now save the file in the .CSV format and it will be saved in the semicolon delimited format !!!

Can some one please help?

THanks

Casper

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5 additional answers

Answer 1

I work on multiple MAC computers and have for yrs with XL2008 for Mac and XL2016 for Mac. I am in US.

I regularly convert Excel files to CSV (with comma as the separator) to import into other programs. I have the least amount of MS software on my computers.

Under SAVE AS, XL for Mac gives many choices - divided in 2 GROUPS: COMMON and SPECIALTY. I have no idea the reason or benefit from the 2 groups.

Under COMMON, the CSV choice is UTF-8 and it NEVER works.

Under SPECIALTY, the CSV choice is CSV and it ALWAYS works.

Because I am using comma as the separator, I always do a SEARCH for comma before I convert to CSV to make sure there are NO COMMAS or they are embedded in "" "". I always SAVE the XL as XL right before I convert the TOP page to CSV.

The process ONLY converts the OPEN worksheet (TOP page) in a multi-worksheet workbook. Make sure you have the correct one open / on top.

Once I have SAVED as CSV (under the SPECIALTY group), I close XL.

In closing, XL REMARKS that the workbook is NOT saved and ASKS if I want to save it. I click NO / DON'T SAVE.

XL is "confused" about SAVING. I have a SAVED XL version from before conversion AND a first page ONLY - SAVED CVS after the conversion. Apparently, the later doesn't "look" like a "saved file" as defined by XL? Not to worry. Just EXIT.

The SPECIALTY CSV choice always works to upload the data from XL into websites, email marketing programs, etc.

Answer 2

I've run into the same problem as CasperFryndendal.

The CSV file gets created with ";" as separator instead of ",". This is visible when looking at it in a text editor.

Naturally I'd be able to Replace all ; with , if that would only solve the case.

My issue is I need to KEEP the Multipick lists with ;...

So for now my workaround is:

In Excel - change all ; to ":::" that way any ; I need to preserve is clearly marked in a different way.

Then do the save as Unicode CSV (otherwise it changes e.g. accents that are used in comment fields).

Open in a text editor where I can replace - ; with , and then replace ::: with ;.

After that saving as plain text and I should be fine. Fingers crossed :-)

Answer 3

Jim G 134K MVP Volunteer Moderator

Which file format did you choose when you saved your file?

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Answer 4

I've tried:

comma separated and CSV UTF-8 formats.

i'm using a Mac that uses neither Windows,m not MS-DOS.

comma separated format changed ' to the Greek letter omega.

CSV UTF-8 managed to keep letters as intended.

my belief is that it ties to Regional Line separation settings that are normally inherited from Windows into Office.

as I use Finnish formatting, metric measures it's something that switches the line separator to ;.

i know it because I need to use it in Excels formulas, but this is the first time it also shows up when saving as CSV! Sofar they've worked nicely.

Answer 5

I'm by no means an authority on the subject, so take this for what it's worth :-)

First of all, my experience indicates that 'CSV' is by no means an absolute file type... there are a number of variables involved depending on the software & settings used when generating the file. Many receiving programs have the ability to adjust settings to accommodate more than one specific CSV variation, but some may not. I think this is what you're running into, but your support people should be able to clarify that... Perhaps someone just needs to make an adjustment when importing your file.

Secondly, there's nothing "strange" about Excel recognizing CSVs generated by itself & opening as a worksheet. That is by design so the CSV can be simply reopened for viewing/editing without having to go through the Text Import process each time.

Third, you're unable to follow the instructions you've found because they apparently pertain to a Windows version of Excel. Things are different on a Mac :-)

To resolve the issue, I'd suggest that you first try the other CSV options provided in the Save As dialog's list of File Formats, such as Windows Comma Separated or MS-DOS Comma Separated. It's also possible that you may be able to use one of the text file types rather than a CSV. Again, your support people should be able to assist with that.

If those options don't work you may have to resort to opening the CSV in a program like Text Edit in order to replace the commas with some other type of column delimiter. The single-column symptom suggests that the comma delimiter is not being properly recognized. This is something that your support people should be able to help with as well.

Stay tuned, though, because others more well versed than I may have additional suggestions.

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