CSV from Windows Server Unable to open on Linux/Mac
A small CSV file that was generated on a Windows server is not opening correctly on Linux/Mac.
The only way to open this file is via MS Excel for Mac, which gives the following prompt:
The CSV file has the proper extension .csv
and "get info" in Finder shows that it is in-fact a CSV file. Weird thing is that it is called "Comma Separated Spreadsheet" rather than "Comma Separated Values":
When opening the file with TextEdit, the result is an empty file:
When using the file
command in Terminal, the output is not "CSV" as it should be. It says it is "Zip archive data"
:
Is this a common error with CSVs between OS's? Unable to find any resources online. Appreciate the help.
Solution 1:
Since file
reports that the supposed .csv
file is a Zip archive, it may actually be an XLSX (Microsot Excel) file whose file extension was simply changed from .xlsx
to .csv
. Try changing the file extension to .xlsx
to see if this is the case.