CSV Conventions

Here are some notes about conventions we use in our CSV file exports and imports.

This is probably the most important part of this article and crucial to making your life with CSVs easier - don't skip over it!

• Wrap your complex text fields with double speech marks (" ), especially if they themselves contain a comma. Most other exporting systems, including Pakk, will do this for you by default.

• Use TRUE or FALSE for checkbox-type fields (Boolean, in tech speak).

• "Simple" list fields (like numbers, checkbox-type, text or reference identifiers) are represented as a comma-separated list, e.g. if you wanted to enter a list of "content tags" for a product, the field might read cooking,recipes,vegan. Remember not to include spaces and to wrap with speech marks (see above).

• More complex, "composite" fields (basically fields that have sub-fields, like an address) are represented with "dot notation" - e.g. address.recipient, address.phone, address.phone etc.

• Required fields (for import) are marked with an asterisk * before the column header -e.g. *email. You don't have to remove that asterisk when re-importing data - the system is clever enough to ignore it.

• Non-importable fields - i.e. fields that can be exported but not imported, are marked with an exclamation mark ! in the column header. Again, you don't need to remove this when re-importing.

• Date format: you can either use the same format that the export spits out (RFC3339) or UK-style dates (with or without times) like this: 2/1/6 or 02/01/06 or 02/01/06 15:04 or even 02/01/06 15:04:34.