Notes on handling csv files

Encoding / Format

All files in csv format generated by Vensoft are encoded with the UTF-8 character set including BOM (Byte Order Mark). This ensures the greatest possible compatibility with the most common Windows applications and in particular Microsoft Excel for displaying special characters. A ; (semicolon) is used, it is the standard for German-speaking countries. If necessary, the coding can be changed when sending or saving the file. As a result, special characters may no longer be displayed correctly. The current coding can be checked, for example, with the free text editor Notepad++. Therefore, if possible, csv files should first be opened with Excel and saved as xlsx files.

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Save

Files in csv format should never be saved again in csv format after processing with Microsoft Excel, otherwise formatting information will be lost and the layout, for example, will be destroyed. Instead, save the file directly as an xlsx file (standard format since Office 2013) after opening and before editing with Excel. File Save As File Type "Excel Workbook (*.xlsx)"

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Open

As a rule, Excel automatically recognizes the formatting, i.e. the division of the columns and the cell format of a csv file. If this does not happen, you can import the file manually and explicitly select the character set and the column separator character. Data From Text/CSV Select file and import (in older Excel versions also "From Text" instead of "From Text/CSV").

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File Origin: 65001: Unicode (UTF-8) Separator: semicolon (depending on the Excel version, multiple selections may be possible, select only semicolons)

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Note: Screenshots from Excel 365 (status: 01/24/2020). Other versions may differ. If using Excel 365, under Data type detection, select Based on entire dataset or Do not detect data types.