Answers.Body: <p>This is <a href="https://issues.civicrm.org/jira/browse/CRM-19192" rel="nofollow">CRM-19192: CSV values must be comma separated</a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-08-08T10:53:02.807Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-08-08T10:53:02.807Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Chris Burgess
Answers.Body: <p>I just created test data from <a href="http://generatedata.com" rel="nofollow">http://generatedata.com</a> (see below) and tested against the master branch of both Drupal and WordPress.  I could not replicate this issue.</p>
  
  <p>Excel has inexcusably poor CSV parsing code - presumably because they have little interest in interoperability.  I suspect the issue is with the data rather than the import code.</p>
  
  <p>I suggest downloading and installing a copy of <a href="https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-fresh/" rel="nofollow">LibreOffice</a>, which is free.  Open your CSV there, and check to see if the formatting is correct.  </p>
  
  <p>If the formatting is correct, save a COPY of the CSV and try importing that to CiviCRM.  If that works (and I expect it will), you can open up the two CSVs side-by-side in a regular text editor (e.g. Notepad, Sublime Text).  The difference in how Excel and LibreOffice saved the file should hopefully be obvious.</p>
  
  <p>If the formatting is wrong, that's a good indication that it's Excel that's generated bad formatting.  In that case, open the Excel file in LibreOffice and save as a CSV from there.</p>
  
  <p>Here's a snippet of the data I was able to successfully import. You can test to see that CiviCRM is working with semi-colon imports by saving this to a file:</p>
  
  <pre><code>first_name;last_name;email;phone
  Martha;Benson;ante.dictum.mi@vitae.com;(206) 125-2379
  Wesley;Christensen;quam.Pellentesque@egestas.org;(329) 985-3800
  Darryl;Garrett;felis.ullamcorper@Duis.net;(749) 385-5900
  Ariel;Holt;luctus.sit.amet@nislsemconsequat.ca;(110) 493-9459
  </code></pre>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-08-08T05:41:26.067Z
Answers.Text: Just a note - I realize after seeing your other question that this issue is specific to participant import; I tested contact import.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jon G - Megaphone Tech
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-08-08T07:00:34.200Z
Answers.Text: Yes, indeed, I experienced problems with **Event Participant import**. Messy Excel might not be the issue, because I run the data through Notepad++ which is excellent in showing the exact contents of file.
  
  Talking about **Contact import**, I have run into problems with tab-delimited CSVs (with somewhat richer data). Replacing tab with comma immediately solved the issue.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Aivars
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-08-08T04:58:28.250Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-08-08T04:58:28.250Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jon G - Megaphone Tech
Body: <p>After trying to import <strong>event participants</strong> for many hours I discovered a confusing bug with <strong>Import Field Separator</strong>.</p>
  
  <p>During import it is possible to specify which character delimits fields - comma, semicolon, pipe or even tab. In fact <strong>semicolon</strong> does not work and neither does <strong>tab</strong>. They just break the data. </p>
  
  <p>It is particularly confusing because MS Excel by default exports semicolon separated files. Which I did not see the need to convert to comma-separated as CiviCRM was seemingly offering an option to specify semicolon as Import Field Separator.</p>
  
  <p>Tested on CiviCRM v4.7.9. on Wordpress. 
  Also does not work in CiviCRM Sandbox.</p>
  
Tags: <import><issues>
Title: Q: Import Field Separator bug?
ThreadText: # Q: Import Field Separator bug?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2016-08-07)
  
  After trying to import **event participants** for many hours I discovered a confusing bug with **Import Field Separator**.
  
  During import it is possible to specify which character delimits fields - comma, semicolon, pipe or even tab. In fact **semicolon** does not work and neither does **tab**. They just break the data.
  
  It is particularly confusing because MS Excel by default exports semicolon separated files. Which I did not see the need to convert to comma-separated as CiviCRM was seemingly offering an option to specify semicolon as Import Field Separator.
  
  Tested on CiviCRM v4.7.9. on Wordpress.
  Also does not work in CiviCRM Sandbox.
  
  **Tags:** import, issues
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2016-08-08. Score: 1
  
  This is [CRM-19192: CSV values must be comma separated](https://issues.civicrm.org/jira/browse/CRM-19192)
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2016-08-08. Score: 0
  
  I just created test data from <http://generatedata.com> (see below) and tested against the master branch of both Drupal and WordPress. I could not replicate this issue.
  
  Excel has inexcusably poor CSV parsing code - presumably because they have little interest in interoperability. I suspect the issue is with the data rather than the import code.
  
  I suggest downloading and installing a copy of [LibreOffice](https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-fresh/), which is free. Open your CSV there, and check to see if the formatting is correct.
  
  If the formatting is correct, save a COPY of the CSV and try importing that to CiviCRM. If that works (and I expect it will), you can open up the two CSVs side-by-side in a regular text editor (e.g. Notepad, Sublime Text). The difference in how Excel and LibreOffice saved the file should hopefully be obvious.
  
  If the formatting is wrong, that's a good indication that it's Excel that's generated bad formatting. In that case, open the Excel file in LibreOffice and save as a CSV from there.
  
  Here's a snippet of the data I was able to successfully import. You can test to see that CiviCRM is working with semi-colon imports by saving this to a file:
  
  ```
  first_name;last_name;email;phone
  Martha;Benson;ante.dictum.mi@vitae.com;(206) 125-2379
  Wesley;Christensen;quam.Pellentesque@egestas.org;(329) 985-3800
  Darryl;Garrett;felis.ullamcorper@Duis.net;(749) 385-5900
  Ariel;Holt;luctus.sit.amet@nislsemconsequat.ca;(110) 493-9459
  
  ```
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: Just a note - I realize after seeing your other question that this issue is specific to participant import; I tested contact import.  
  > **username_0**: Yes, indeed, I experienced problems with **Event Participant import**. Messy Excel might not be the issue, because I run the data through Notepad++ which is excellent in showing the exact contents of file.  Talking about **Contact import**, I have run into problems with tab-delimited CSVs (with somewhat richer data). Replacing tab with comma immediately solved the issue.  
  
  ---
  
  