Fixing SYLK error in .csv file

I’ve recently had to generate a .csv file from an SQL query generated through ColdFusion. This all worked without any major problems except for an error the Excel popped up with saying that the file appear to be in SYLK format, etc.

This is caused by using ‘ID’ as the first column header. Changing this to ‘Identity’ sorted the problem out and Excel was able to open the file without any problems.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 at 1:24 pm and is filed under ColdFusion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

3 Comments

On March 27, 2007 at 3:40 pm Sonny wrote:

Thank you! Your solution fixed my problem. I totally see this as an Excel problem.

On March 27, 2007 at 6:57 pm Neil wrote:

Glad it came in useful.

On January 17, 2008 at 11:08 am Kartik wrote:

This is an Excel problem. However it is for any time where the first cell has contents where the first 2 characters are capitalized.

You can refer to the MS help and support here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/215591

However, the above user is correct, that by amending the first cell to contain non-capital letters, the issue is usually resolved.

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Neil Merton is a South African born web professional currently employed by the Servelogic. These are his thoughts and memories.

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