Answers.Body: <p>Try using Libre Office. It is a Free and Open Source Office (MS Office compatible) application. Libreoffice.org - You can open the xls file with it and save as csv. I have used it numerous times, it comes pre-installed in ubuntu (which reminds me I should make a donation to the project)</p>
  
  <p>Let us know how you get on.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-03-03T13:43:03.183Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-03-03T13:43:03.183Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Sanjay Jain
Answers.Body: <p>I had the same issue, and I noticed when opening the CSV file (that I had created in Mac excel) in textedit, the separator was a ; rather than ,
  After replacing I could import without issue. </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-27T13:07:36.677Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-08-27T13:07:36.677Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Sander van Eersel
Answers.Body: <p>Milla - when we have hit issues with imports of a csv we have often succeeded by simply copying out the content of the csv and pasting in to a new csv. saving and then importing.</p>
  
  <p>i have found that if i then re-save a csv it can cause issues and the above trick gets around it.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-03-03T18:57:18.773Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-03-03T18:57:18.773Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: petednz - fuzion
Answers.Body: <p>I use Mac MS Office all the time to create csv files to import into civi without issue.</p>
  
  <p>Civi parses the file looking for the correct format.  It doesn't care what the file name is.  So for some reason the csv file isn't either saving correctly or has extra things in it.  Try saving the file as a csv.  Then open it with TextEdit and look at the file.  It should be something like this</p>
  
  <pre><code>ID,First Name,Last Name,Street Address
  1,John,Smith,123 Easy Street
  2,Jane,Jones,1 Main Street
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>You may or may not have the first row with the column names and the data between the commas may be inclosed in quotes. </p>
  
  <p>If you file looks ok then you might need to look for hidden charaters.</p>
  
  <p>You could also try the other csv formats.  I see a couple of MS style cvs formats further down the list in the save as file type.</p>
  
  <p>Other possibilities are the character set.   The code has UTF8 all through it but I think other work.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-03-03T19:07:26.753Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-03-03T19:07:26.753Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Paul-Tahoe
Answers.Body: <p>Consult <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4221176/excel-to-csv-with-utf8-encoding">https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4221176/excel-to-csv-with-utf8-encoding</a> for workarounds. Personnally i use iconv to do the conversion in a terminal window.</p>
  
  <p>iconv -f WINDOWS-1252 -t UTF-8 data.csv > data.utf8.csv</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-03-04T02:55:23.337Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-03-04T02:55:23.337Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2017-05-23T12:38:59.763Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: benoit.dubuc
Answers.Body: <p>I'm using LibreOffice on MacOS, best solution</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-09-29T07:27:09.317Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-09-29T07:27:09.317Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Guillaume Sorel
Body: <p>I am trying to import contacts as .csv file, however when I try to upload it I get an error message saying that the input file must be in a CSV format - which it is!<br>
  I'm using a Mac and I've read that Mac Excel (which I've used to convert the initial xls file into csv) might cause some difficulties, if this is the problem, how can this be fixed?  </p>
  
  <p>I look forward to your suggestions.
  Kindly,
  Milla</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2016-03-03T11:58:33.863Z
Comments.Text: Try to Import your xls into a mysql database table and then export the table into an CSV - and then Try - this might help
Comments.UserDisplayName: Ramesh - ARTECH Consultancy
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2016-03-04T20:16:51.620Z
Comments.Text: If you're using an old Mac (Classic / pre OS X) they mark the end of a line in a text file differently ( http://superuser.com/questions/439440/did-mac-os-lion-switch-to-using-line-feeds-lf-n-for-line-breaks-instead-of ). Excel for Mac 2011 does this too ( https://gist.github.com/jennybc/0be7717c2b5b30088811 ), perhaps to be like the "classic" Mac OS format.
Comments.UserDisplayName: DaveFF
Tags: <contacts><import><error>
Title: CSV file import problem with file from Mac MS Office
ThreadText: # CSV file import problem with file from Mac MS Office
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-03)
  
  I am trying to import contacts as .csv file, however when I try to upload it I get an error message saying that the input file must be in a CSV format - which it is!  
  I'm using a Mac and I've read that Mac Excel (which I've used to convert the initial xls file into csv) might cause some difficulties, if this is the problem, how can this be fixed?
  
  I look forward to your suggestions.
  Kindly,
  username_0
  
  **Tags:** contacts, import, error
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Try to Import your xls into a mysql database table and then export the table into an CSV - and then Try - this might help  
  > **username_2**: If you're using an old Mac (Classic / pre OS X) they mark the end of a line in a text file differently ( http://superuser.com/questions/439440/did-mac-os-lion-switch-to-using-line-feeds-lf-n-for-line-breaks-instead-of ). Excel for Mac 2011 does this too ( https://gist.github.com/jennybc/0be7717c2b5b30088811 ), perhaps to be like the "classic" Mac OS format.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 6 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2016-03-03. Score: 4
  
  Try using Libre Office. It is a Free and Open Source Office (MS Office compatible) application. Libreoffice.org - You can open the xls file with it and save as csv. I have used it numerous times, it comes pre-installed in ubuntu (which reminds me I should make a donation to the project)
  
  Let us know how you get on.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2018-08-27. Score: 3
  
  I had the same issue, and I noticed when opening the CSV file (that I had created in Mac excel) in textedit, the separator was a ; rather than ,
  After replacing I could import without issue.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2016-03-03. Score: 2
  
  username_0 - when we have hit issues with imports of a csv we have often succeeded by simply copying out the content of the csv and pasting in to a new csv. saving and then importing.
  
  i have found that if i then re-save a csv it can cause issues and the above trick gets around it.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2016-03-03. Score: 1
  
  I use Mac MS Office all the time to create csv files to import into civi without issue.
  
  Civi parses the file looking for the correct format. It doesn't care what the file name is. So for some reason the csv file isn't either saving correctly or has extra things in it. Try saving the file as a csv. Then open it with TextEdit and look at the file. It should be something like this
  
  ```
  ID,First Name,Last Name,Street Address
  1,John,Smith,123 Easy Street
  2,Jane,Jones,1 Main Street
  
  ```
  
  You may or may not have the first row with the column names and the data between the commas may be inclosed in quotes.
  
  If you file looks ok then you might need to look for hidden charaters.
  
  You could also try the other csv formats. I see a couple of MS style cvs formats further down the list in the save as file type.
  
  Other possibilities are the character set. The code has UTF8 all through it but I think other work.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2016-03-04. Score: 0
  
  Consult <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4221176/excel-to-csv-with-utf8-encoding> for workarounds. Personnally i use iconv to do the conversion in a terminal window.
  
  iconv -f WINDOWS-1252 -t UTF-8 data.csv > data.utf8.csv
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_8 on 2021-09-29. Score: 0
  
  I'm using LibreOffice on MacOS, best solution
  
  
  ---
  
  