If you regularly work with spreadsheets, this might be too basic for you but to someone like me who rarely uses them, this little tip might come in handy. A “.CSV” file or “Comma-separated values” is a text file format that uses commas to separate values. Usually designed to be opened in spreadsheets.
I don’t work with many but every now and then, I want one to open properly in a spreadsheet program like “OpenOffice Calc” or “Calc Spreadsheet – LibreOffice“. When you first open up a spreadsheet in either program it asks you to choose the format.
I would just click on “OK“, not sure what settings to choose so I usually ended up with a jumbled mess all cramped into one column. I assumed the program would straighten everything out. It did not.
Didn’t give it too much thought until I started fooling around with a new program called “ONLYOFFICE Editors”.
This suite includes Document (writer), Spreadsheet, and Presentation. When I tried to open a “.csv”, it gave a simpler option box. I left the “Encoding as is – Unicode (UTF-8)”, but the “Delimiter” was set to “Tab”. I clicked on it and selected “Comma” from the drop-down list.
Finally got the result that I wasn’t trying too hard to find. 🙂 The CSV file is properly formatted.
The setting was right there in both OpenOffice and LibreOffice. In the box that opens when you try to open a spreadsheet, check the “Comma” option. On the bottom of the box, you even get a little preview.
I didn’t change any other settings. Then click “OK”. Looks good and prints up better. The simplest things you can miss are right under your nose.
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