NORTHMELD PRACTICAL GUIDES
Import semicolon CSV without splitting quoted fields
Choose the separator used between fields, not punctuation inside a quoted value. For this UTF-8 sample, select a semicolon delimiter: Parts; accessories stays in one Description cell, and 12,50 stays a single text value. No decimal or identifier conversion is required to import the file correctly.
Prepare and download
Download semicolon-input.csv. It has Code, Description and Amount columns with three fictional records. Descriptions contain a semicolon, a comma or escaped quotation marks. Amount values use decimal commas and are intentionally kept as text; this tutorial does not convert them into numbers.
Reproduce the result
Open the CSV import settings
Import the source in the workspace. In Confirm import, expand CSV encoding and delimiter. Keep UTF-8, choose ; as the delimiter and click Reload preview.
Check column boundaries
The preview must show three columns and three records. Parts; accessories and Box, large each belong in one Description cell. A "quoted" label should contain two visible quotation marks, not doubled escape characters.
Keep the original values
Leave column conversions unchanged. Confirm that 00101 retains its zeros and that 12,50, 0,00 and 7,25 each remain one Amount value. Import the three rows without cleanup operations.
Compare the exports
Export CSV or XLSX and reopen the result. Northmeld's CSV export uses commas between fields and quotes values as needed. It preserves the cell values, not the original separator or byte layout. Use the XLSX result to inspect stored text values.
Actual sample results
- Input data rows
- 3
- Output data rows
- 3
- Duplicates removed
- 0
- The explicit semicolon import returned exactly three columns and three rows.
- Quoted semicolons, commas and escaped quotation marks remained within their intended cells.
- CSV and XLSX exports were re-imported and every cell matched. Amounts remained strings, including 0,00; no monetary calculation was tested.
| Code | Description | Amount |
|---|---|---|
"00101" | "Parts; accessories" | "12,50" |
"00102" | "Box, large" | "0,00" |
"00103" | "A \"quoted\" label" | "7,25" |
| Code | Description | Amount |
|---|---|---|
"00101" | "Parts; accessories" | "12,50" |
"00102" | "Box, large" | "0,00" |
"00103" | "A \"quoted\" label" | "7,25" |
Limits and human review
- A decimal comma does not tell the importer which locale or currency to assume. Confirm number-format rules separately before arithmetic or numeric conversion.
- Choose the actual file encoding. UTF-8 is correct for this sample but is not a claim about every CSV export.
- Unclosed or malformed quotes require correction at the source. Correctly importing this sample does not prove that damaged CSV files can be repaired.
- CSV has no spreadsheet cell types. Opening it directly in another application can still trigger that application's automatic conversions.