How to Fix CSV File Download Issues

This article helps you fix common issues when opening a CSV file in Excel on Windows or macOS.

You may notice:

• All data appears in one column 
• Columns look jumbled 
• Special characters display incorrectly 

These issues usually occur due to regional settings or character encoding.

Fix incorrect column separation

If all data appears in one column, your device is likely using a different list separator from the one used in the CSV file.

Most Cognism CSV files use a comma (,) as the separator.

Update your system settings using the steps below, then re-download the file. If the issue persists, restart your device and try again.

Windows 8 and Windows 10

1. Close Excel. 
2. Open Control Panel.  
3. Select Region (Windows 10: Control Panel > Clock and Region > Region).  

4. Click Additional settings.  

   

5. Under the Numbers tab: 
   1. Set Decimal symbol to a full stop (.)  

   2. Set List separator to a comma (,)

         

6. Click Apply, then OK.  
7. Re-download and open your CSV file. 

Windows 11

1. Open Settings.  
2. Select Time & language.  
3. Click Language & region.  
4. Under Related settings, select Administrative language settings.  
5. In the Formats tab, click Additional settings. 
6. Under the Numbers tab: 
   1. Set Decimal symbol to a full stop (.)  

   2. Set List separator to a comma (,)    

      

7. Click Apply, then OK.  
8. Re-download and open your CSV file. 

macOS

macOS does not allow you to directly set a default CSV delimiter. Instead, apps such as Excel and Numbers use your regional settings to determine the expected separator.

In many European regions, a semicolon (;) is used because a comma is treated as a decimal separator.

Change your region settings

1. Go to System Settings.  
2. Select General > Language & Region.  
3. Change the Region to a country that uses a comma as the list separator, such as United States.  
4. Restart Excel or Numbers. 
5. Re-download and open your CSV file. 

Check decimal and thousands separators (optional)

1. In Language & Region, select Advanced or Customise (depending on your macOS version).  
2. Confirm: 
   1. Decimal is set to (.)  
   2. Thousands is set to (,)    

These settings influence which delimiter spreadsheet apps expect.

Fix special character issues (UTF-8 encoding)

If you see question marks (?) or incorrect symbols instead of characters such as é, è or ç, Excel is not reading the file using UTF-8 encoding.

Instead of opening the file directly, import it into Excel.

Import a CSV file using UTF-8 encoding

1. Open Excel. 
2. Select the Data tab.  
3. Click From Text/CSV.  
4. Select your file and click Import.  
5. In the File Origin dropdown, choose 65001: Unicode (UTF-8).  
6. Click Load.  

Excel will now display special characters correctly.

Expected result

• Data appears in separate columns. 
• Special characters display correctly. 
• The file opens without formatting issues.