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CSV Troubleshooting

If you have trouble uploading your CSV file when adding contacts to Weave, use these some common troubleshooting tips.

Formatting Errors

Your CSV must be formatted correctly to successfully upload. For more information about the required formatting for a CSV file, see Upload Contacts via CSV.

Here are some additional Excel formatting resources:

CSV Fails to Upload

If you don't see a success screen upon uploading your CSV file, but instead the page fails to load or look blank then you may have one of these two common issues:

Computer time not synced with the Universal Time Coordinate (UTC)

For example, if you have set the time on your computer to be five minutes ahead of the UTC time this can cause problems. Follow the instructions in the links below to correct the time on your computer:

Ghost Columns

A Ghost Column on a spreadsheet looks empty but actually contains data. 

csv_troubleshoot_1.png

Because Ghost Columns are invisible you won’t see them in Excel. Excel always shows an infinite number of “potential columns” if you scroll to the right. However, Ghost Columns usually cling to the immediate right of the last valid column with data in it.

How do I know if I have a Ghost Column?

In order to see the data in the columns, you need to open the CSV file with a basic text editing program like NotePad or WordPad:

  1. Navigate to the file in your internet browser
  2. Right-mouse click and choose Open with
  3. Select the program you wish to use (typically NotePad)
    csv_troubleshoot_2.png

The file will open in a raw format - no pretty lines like in Excel. You will see all the same data, one row on top of the other.

Between each entry on a row is a comma, which represents a dividing vertical line, AKA a column divider. If there are Ghost Columns, they will appear as multiple commas side-by-side.
csv_troubleshoot_3.png

Since each commas is a divider, two commas back-to-back means there is a blank spot in the row. Usually you will see these duplicate commas to the right of patient data. Please note though that there will always be one comma at the end of a row, representing the final boundary of the last valid column.

How do I get rid of a Ghost Column?

There are two ways to get rid of a Ghost Column:

Remove the Ghost Columns from NotePad
(or other basic text editing program)		 Remove the Ghost Columns from Excel
(or other spreadsheet program)

1. Delete the extra commas on each row

2. Save the file

1. Count the number of extra commas in NotePad

2. Delete the corresponding amount of columns in Excel
(if you're unsure of how many columns to delete, it's never a bad idea to just delete a bunch of them)

3. Save the file

 

Tip: If you want to test the file after saving it, you can reopen it again with Notepad to see if the extra commas have vanished. 

Try uploading the CSV file again in your Weave Portal. Assuming no other errors appear, you should see the Success Screen this time. Congratulations, the ghosts have been banished! 

Duplicate Contact IDs

Weave will only upload one contact per unique ID. If there is a duplicate contact where they have the same unique ID, Weave will only upload the first contact.

Remove Duplicates Before Uploading Your CSV File

Before you upload your CSV file into the Weave Portal, check for duplicates within your spreadsheet. 

How to check for duplicate IDs in Microsoft Excel 

  1. Open up your excel spreadsheet
  2. Select all data
  3. Click Data in the toolbar
  4. Select Remove Duplicates
  5. Select the column of the unique ID (the column that will be identifying duplicates)
  6. Select OK 

Done! You will receive an alert message with the items removed. This means that all duplicates will be removed from the spreadsheet. 

How to check for duplicate IDs in Google Sheets

  1. Open up your google sheets spreadsheet
  2. Select the column you are checking for duplicates (you should be checking the unique ID column)
  3. Click Format
  4. Click Conditional Formatting
  5. Click Add New Rule
  6. Set Format cells if to: Custom formula is: 
  7. Set value to: =countif(A:A,A1)>1
  8. Set the formatting style
  9. Ensure the range applies to your column (e.g., A1:A100)

Done! Anything you write in the A1:A100 cells will be checked, and if there is a duplicate (occurs more than once) then it will be colored. For multiple columns, use countifs. 

Still unsure how to do it? Watch this video. 

Remove Duplicates After Uploading Your CSV File

If you did not remove the duplicates before uploading your CSV file, you will receive the error message that says Success… Almost if there are duplicates or other errors.

Weave only shows the first 50 errors, so if there are more than 50, you will need to check for errors and/or duplicates within your spreadsheet.

Since Weave uploads the first contact (from the top of the spreadsheet) with a specific unique ID, the others will not be uploaded. 

We recommend checking your duplicates to ensure that the top one (first one) has the correct information that you want uploaded into Weave. 

  • If yes, then no need to take any action. The duplicates simply will not be uploaded into Weave.
  • If no, then you will need to re-upload the CSV file after removing duplicates in order to replace the original contact that was uploaded from the first CSV upload.

Generating a Unique ID

Some Practice Management Softwares or data bases may not assign a unique id to each customer. Weave uses the unique ID to store that patients data. Since this is a required field for the CSV upload, follow these instructions on how to assign or generate a unique id in Excel.

 

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