EchoInk: Excel – CSV Import Compatibility

There is a known Microsoft Excel issue when opening a .csv file in a language other than English. In cases where the data originated from Habitat, this document will show you what to look for and, if it happens to you, how to work around the issue.

When the issue occurs

1. Log into Habitat and click the Users tab.
   

   There are two options for downloading user reports.

2. Click on either of the links, shown in the figure below, to download a .csv file.

Users typically open the .csv file in Excel, but that won’t work properly for non-English characters. When that happens, Excel doesn’t account for those characters, and you will see data that can look like the figure below.

How to fix it

If this happens, importing the data into Excel instead is the solution.

1. Open Excel and select the Data tab.
2. From the Get & Transform Data section, click From Text / CSV.
   

   The Import Data dialog box opens.

3. Navigate to the location of the .csv file and select it.
4. Click Import.
   

   The Import Wizard opens.

5. Choose Comma from the Delimiter dropdown.
6. Click Load.

After loading the data, you’ll notice that the non-English characters are displayed correctly.