Issues when importing CSV file

[Cindy]

Hello,

When I import CSV files that contain an apostrophe , quote marks and perhaps other basic symbols that are used everyday, the symbols are replaced with a ? mark. I.E.

Gangaji- You?re The One That I Want (And Need) and desired ?other.?

They should read:

Gangaji- You’re The One That I Want (And Need) and desired “other.”

See this example at : http://footstepsofwisdom.com/events/?tribe_paged=1&tribe_event_display=list&tribe-bar-search=Gangaji

Thank-you,

Cindy

[Josh]

Hey Cindy,

Thanks for reaching out to us!

I tested an import using different symbols and wasn’t able to replicate. Would you mind providing the CSV you’re using in a private reply so I can see if there is anything different to the import files.

Thanks!

[Cindy]

This reply is private.

[Cindy]

Hey again –

Perhaps this will help you recreate what I did.

I copy paste the event info that I want from a website to Notepad to get rid of bold text and different fonts, sizes, etc… Then I copy the data into the CSV template that I pulled from MT Help site.

Here is a link to the website that I pulled info from that has punctuation errors: https://gangaji.org/events/view/?id=868

Thanks!

[Josh]

Hey Cindy,

If you’re able, you can send a download link via a service such as Dropbox or Google Drive. There are free versions of both of those services to handle file and document storage.

Out of curiosity, if you type in the titles that include “‘” directly into the template, do you get the same issue with the characters on your site?

Thanks!

[Cindy]

This reply is private.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by Cindy.

[Josh]

Hey Cindy,

Thanks for providing that link and the follow up!

1. I downloaded A CSV from the doc you linked and was able to import without the special character issue (dashboard – https://cloudup.com/cF-P4Xa3tVO, front-end https://cloudup.com/cFXKfHCQ502)
2. Have you tried following our Testing for Conflicts procedures to ensure there isn’t a conflict with an existing plugin that could be causing the strange import?
3. A conflict could also be impacting the time import issues that you’re noticing. Here is the second event from the spreadsheet that had a set start time in the CSV and it imported the time correctly for me as well https://cloudup.com/c6dBBH_PKNd.

The option to upload or add a file is definitely a great idea! I’ll log it for our development team to consider since you’re right, that would definitely be a great option to help increase the usability of these forums when we do need to accept files such as these.

Let me know if the above helps or reveals any conflict.

Thanks!

[Cindy]

Hi Josh,

I turned off all the plugins and used Twenty Thirteen theme. All of the quotation marks and apostrophes still came over as question marks.

I did figure out the issue with the time not importing correctly. Events Calendar seems to need the date to be in this format: 10/10/2015 or it pulls in weird dates and times if not all day event. I just stumbled on that solution.

What needs to happen now to fix the quote and apostrophes marks?

Thanks,

Cindy

[Cindy]

Hi Josh,

Now I’m having an issue importing dashes : Evening Talk ? October 30 and Judith Orloff – Power of Intuition ? Vancouver

[Cindy]

Also Bullet Points:
?Recognize what can block intuition
?Read the body language and emotions of friends, family, coworkers, and clients

[Josh]

Hey Cindy,

Thanks for following up and following the Testing for Conflicts procedures.

Unfortunately I’m still not able to reproduce the issue and the events are importing as expected. Would you mind sending (via dropbox or Google Drive) the actual CSV file that you’re importing. You did previously send the Google Spreadsheet that I used to generate a CSV file, however there may be a difference if you send me the exact CSV file that you’re attempting to import.

Thanks!

[Cindy]

Hi Josh,

We have established that I don’t know how to get you the file so I sent it to [email protected] and asked them to forward it to you. I updated the file to only include the one event that had the quotes and apostrophe’s. The other two events showed examples of issues with the time not converting correctly and I figured that issue out.

Thanks,

Cindy

• This reply was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by Cindy.

[Josh]

Hey Cindy,

Thanks for providing the CSV file. It looks like the actual process of exporting it to CSV is what’s creating the issue. What are you currently using to convert the CSV file? When I tried the original Google Doc link you sent, I exported it to CSV and it gave me a clean CSV. However, the CSV that you’re generating and exporting includes the “?” instead of the characters that you want https://cloudup.com/c1gnpDvlcDE.

I would like to also apologize for the frustration that it has been in getting this one figured out. To expedite that passing of files I should have directed you to send via email sooner and that was a failing on my part. However, it looks like we may have figured out the root of the problem now and can work together to get a workflow in place that works for you in importing your events.

Let me know if this helps.

Thanks!

[Josh]

Hey Cindy,

Received an updated CSV file from email. Thanks for providing these!

It looks like the issue is still with the CSV file (although possibly could be started when copying into your text editor for clearing formats and then copying into the spreadsheet). You’ll see here that the CSV file includes a special character which is getting turned into the “?” when imported.

If you export the CSV directly from this file here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fK8jvb6qWz4anC0NkSTHfP_Fm3N1V5HjkHixDIwAzSs/edit#gid=0, (File > Download As) do you experience the same issues with the CSV file?

Thanks!here

 

[Cindy]

Hi Josh,

After many attempts I have figured out how to get my events upload via the import tool, due to issue with the special characters. Thanks for seeing those. 🙂

1. I now use Google Sheets to enter the events
2. Save as a CSV file but DO NOT open it in Excel. Excel seems to be where the special characters show up. And if the file is even opened in Excel it toasts it.
3. Import in

I have not been able to figure out why Excel is ending up with special characters but it does. The other thing to note for others is that when they are importing, the import tool will indicate everything was imported, but if there is a character, it does not always get imported. I ran into this several times when converting from my other event plugin and did not understand the issue. When I contacted support to ask why the import tool was not telling which lines really did not get imported and to ask for help, they just suggested I figure it out manually. This is an error on the import tool and it would be great if that could be fixed, but the rest deals with something goofy that Excel is doing.

Thanks for your time and help. Hope you have a good week!

Cindy

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