Whenever possible, Elicit recommends opening exported .csv files using Google Sheets or Numbers (on a Mac), rather than opening them directly in Excel. We have found that Google Sheets is the best at processing .csv files. If possible, you can upload your .csv into Google Sheets and then download .xlsx from there.
Elicit exports to .csv format may not import to Excel correctly, depending on your local Excel version and settings.
For example, a .csv file may import without correct columns or with empty rows or other formatting issues like this:
To ensure a .csv file will import to Excel correctly, follow these steps:
Export your .csv file from Elicit.
Open the .csv file in a simple text editor, such as TextEdit.
Add a new line to the top of the file.
Type
sep=,on the first line. Make sure thatsep=,is the only text on the first line of the file.Save your file, and then import the file to Excel.
If your file imported correctly, it should look similar to this:
If your columns contain bullet points, Excel may attempt to use the - characters as formulas, which won't display correctly.
Take the following steps to ensure the cells display correctly:
Open the .csv file in TextEdit (or another text editor)
Do a global search for all
-characters and replace them with a*characterSave the file and then import to Excel
For more help with Excel formatting, check out this page.