Numbers Export CSV with comma delimiter to separate values. And double quotation marks for text qualifier

I can successfully import any sheet file by changing the settings for a delimited text file by following this guide Import an Excel or text file into Numbers on Mac - Apple Support


If I then want to export as CSV there is only the option for encoding like Unicode (UTF-8)


So how to set up the Export for CSV in Numbers with comma delimiter to separate values. And double quotation marks for text qualifier?

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Mar 5, 2021 2:25 PM

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Posted on Mar 5, 2021 3:03 PM

I know of no settings for comma vs semicolon, if that was one of your questions. I thought it would go with what separator you use between parameters in functions but I changed the language/region of a document and still got commas. Maybe it is based on your decimal "point" (dot vs comma) in a system preferences. Changing it would cause too many other changes, though. I agree choosing the delimiter should be an option.


If none of your exported data includes a comma or semicolon, you could open the CSV in Textedit and find/replace all semicolons with commas. If none includes a tab or semicolon, you could export as a TSV and replace all tabs with semicolons


Double quotation marks are used for text only when the text includes the delimiter or a carriage return (perhaps other things as well). "ABC DEF" would not get quotation marks, "ABC , DEF" would. From my experience with CSV files, this is standard practice. I notice when exporting as TSV, Numbers still puts quotes around text that has a comma in it, as well as around text that has a tab in it.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 5, 2021 3:03 PM in response to itssrl

I know of no settings for comma vs semicolon, if that was one of your questions. I thought it would go with what separator you use between parameters in functions but I changed the language/region of a document and still got commas. Maybe it is based on your decimal "point" (dot vs comma) in a system preferences. Changing it would cause too many other changes, though. I agree choosing the delimiter should be an option.


If none of your exported data includes a comma or semicolon, you could open the CSV in Textedit and find/replace all semicolons with commas. If none includes a tab or semicolon, you could export as a TSV and replace all tabs with semicolons


Double quotation marks are used for text only when the text includes the delimiter or a carriage return (perhaps other things as well). "ABC DEF" would not get quotation marks, "ABC , DEF" would. From my experience with CSV files, this is standard practice. I notice when exporting as TSV, Numbers still puts quotes around text that has a comma in it, as well as around text that has a tab in it.

Mar 6, 2021 2:50 PM in response to itssrl

I guess instead of saying "I know of no settings..." I should have just straight out said there are no settings. Instead of trying to give you some workarounds, I guess I should have been silent on the matter. Is that a more useful answer?


The answer to your rephrased question of "how to set up the export options for CSV" is there are no settings other than those you already saw. If they don't do it for you and workarounds are useless to you, it cannot be done with Numbers.


If someone was willing to write an Applescript to export to CSV the way you want it done, that might be an alternate solution but that is not an answer to your question so I probably should not have mentioned it. I know it won't be me writing it.

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Numbers Export CSV with comma delimiter to separate values. And double quotation marks for text qualifier

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