The separator and the decimal mark are different
Some exports use semicolons between fields and commas inside decimal values, such as 19,90. Excel opening that file with the wrong separator can put everything in a single column. Replacing every semicolon or comma can damage values, especially when punctuation belongs inside a quoted description.
Run the semicolon example
The sample contains three columns: code, price and description. One description includes a semicolon inside quotes; another includes an embedded line break. A correct parse gives two data rows and three columns. The first code is 00123, the first price is the literal text 19,90, and the description is A pen; blue ink.
Inspect before exporting
- Choose the CSV or try the example.
- Read the detected separator in the summary. Detection is a heuristic across up to the first 12 records, not a promise.
- Override the separator with comma, semicolon, tab or pipe if the preview is wrong.
- Check the expected column count and a record with punctuation before downloading.
Inconsistent row widths block export. They can mean the separator is wrong or the file is malformed. The tool reports record numbers, not physical line numbers, because a quoted field may contain several lines. Unclosed quotes are also rejected rather than silently reshaped.
Why the result is XLSX
A workbook represents cells explicitly, so reopening it does not depend on a regional CSV separator setting. All cells are text: a comma decimal stays exactly as it appears in the CSV. Convert only genuine amount columns to numbers later, with the appropriate locale.
Alternative in Excel
Use Excel’s Text/CSV import controls and choose the separator in its preview. CSV Safe Open is useful when you want a reusable protected workbook and a read-back check without uploading the source file.