What is a CSV delimiter?
A delimiter is a sequence of one or more characters used to specify the boundary between separate regions. The comma character is a field delimiter in a comma-separated values (CSV) file.
Importing CSV on Mac
If you’re a MacBook user and you’ve updated your operating system to the latest release, you may be having trouble opening CSV files in programs like Excel. Is all the content appearing in the first column instead of displaying across multiple columns? A change in the latest IOS release has impacted the way CSV delimiters are recognised. As a ResRequest user, this could affect your work process. Why? Most of the ResRequest reports that you export from the system export in a CSV file format and this information will no longer display correctly when imported into Excel. You can easily resolve this issue by changing the ‘Language and Region’ settings of your Mac.
Follow these simple steps to change your ‘Language and Region’ settings. Be aware that the settings vary depending on what version you are using of either Mac OS or Excel (Office).
For Mac OS 10.12.0 & Excel (Office) 14.6.0
Step 1
Select the Apple icon in the top left hand side of your menu bar. Click on ‘System Preferences’ and open the ‘Language & Region’ option.
Set the ‘Region’ to South Africa.
Step 2
Select the ‘Advanced’ button.
Step 3
Do not change the Grouping or Decimal fields. The defaults should read:
Currency = South African
Grouping = None
Decimal = ‘.’
Measurement = Metric
Step 4
Click on ‘Ok’ to save the changes.
Step 5
Restart your computer.
Now that you have edited these settings you should be able to import CSV files seamlessly into Excel.
For Mac OS Version 10.13.0 & Excel (Office 365) 16.9.0
Be aware that settings will change depending on what version you’re running (both for Mac OS and Excel). For the latest software updates please follow these instructions.
Step 1
Close the Excel application
Step 2
Select the Apple icon in the top left hand side of your menu bar. Click on ‘System Preferences’ and open the ‘Language & Region’ option.
Set the ‘Region’ to ‘United States’.
Step 3
Select the ‘Advanced’ button.
DO NOT CHANGE the Grouping or Decimal settings.
Step 4
You can change the Measurement Unit, Date Format and Times fields if required. This should not affect your import to Excel.
Step 5
Click on ‘Ok’ to save the changes.
Step 6
Restart your computer and import CSV files into Excel.
For Mac OS Ventura
Step 1
Open Terminal as an admin
- Launch the Terminal application on your Mac. You can find it in the Utilities folder, which is located within the Applications folder.
- To open Terminal as an admin, right-click on the Terminal icon and select “Run as Administrator” or “Open as Administrator” from the context menu. If prompted, enter your administrator password.
Step 2: Run the command
- In the Terminal window, type or copy the following command and press Enter: defaults write .GlobalPreferences AppleICUNumberSymbols -dict 0 “.” 1 “‘” 10 “.” 17 “‘”
This command updates the system preferences to change the comma into a dot in Ventura.
Step 3: Restart your Mac
After running the command, it’s recommended to restart your Mac for the changes to take effect. You can do this by clicking on the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen and selecting “Restart.”
Step 4: Verify the changes
- Once your Mac restarts, open Ventura or the relevant application where you want to change the comma into a dot.
- Enter a number or use the comma key on your keyboard to see if it has been replaced with a dot as intended.
Note: It’s important to mention that modifying system preferences using Terminal requires administrative privileges, and any incorrect command or modification can potentially cause issues. Users should proceed with caution and double-check the command before executing it.
Additionally, it’s always a good idea to keep backups of important data and settings before making system modifications.
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