Common Import File Format Issues
Your import file is being rejected or the data comes in garbled. Here are the most common file format issues and how to fix them.
File encoding
Section titled “File encoding”Problem: Special characters (accents, Chinese/Japanese characters, symbols) appear as garbled text after import.
Fix: Save your file as UTF-8 encoding.
- Excel: File > Save As > choose “CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited)”
- Google Sheets: File > Download > “Comma-separated values” (Google Sheets always exports UTF-8)
- Numbers (Mac): File > Export To > CSV, then set Text Encoding to “UTF-8”
Column delimiter
Section titled “Column delimiter”Problem: All data appears in a single column, or columns are misaligned.
Fix: HARi expects comma-separated values. If your file uses semicolons (common in European locale exports), replace them with commas or re-export with comma as the delimiter.
Date formats
Section titled “Date formats”Problem: Dates are imported incorrectly (e.g., March 4 becomes April 3).
Fix: Use ISO format: YYYY-MM-DD (e.g., 2026-03-31). This eliminates ambiguity between MM/DD and DD/MM formats. In Excel, format the date column as “Text” before entering dates to prevent Excel from auto-reformatting.
Quoted fields
Section titled “Quoted fields”Problem: Fields containing commas (e.g., company names like “Smith, Jones & Associates”) break the column alignment.
Fix: Ensure fields containing commas are wrapped in double quotes. Most spreadsheet applications handle this automatically when exporting to CSV. If editing manually, wrap the value: "Smith, Jones & Associates".
Empty rows and headers
Section titled “Empty rows and headers”Problem: Import fails with “unexpected format” or creates blank records.
Fix: Remove any empty rows in the file. Ensure the first row contains column headers (not data). Remove any summary rows at the bottom of the file.
Line breaks in fields
Section titled “Line breaks in fields”Problem: A multi-line address or note breaks the CSV structure.
Fix: Ensure multi-line values are wrapped in double quotes. If the problem persists, replace line breaks within fields with a separator like ” | ” before importing.
Still stuck?
Section titled “Still stuck?”Download the HARi import template for your entity (available on the import screen) and paste your data into it. This ensures the format matches exactly what HARi expects. See also How to Fix Import Errors for validation-level issues.