Incorrectly formatted field name information (Full Version)

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suetoo -> Incorrectly formatted field name information (8/6/2015 6:10:52 PM)

I am using PrintMaster Platinum 18 on a Windows 7 machine with OpenOffice Calc 4.0.0 as my spreadsheet. I just updated OpenOffice this morning in the hopes it would fix the error I'm getting. It didn't. Same error.

I'm trying to import an addressbook into PrintMaster. I get the error...

"The field name information in the file you have specified is missing or not correctly formatted.

The first line of the file must contain the database field names. Make sure the "Export Field Names" (or similar) option is selected in the program from which you are exporting data."

Obviously, PM thinks it isn't. This isn't my first rodeo. I've been saving my spreadsheet to a .csv file and importing to PM for years. I have no idea what changed. I can tell you what I've tried to fix it. Made sure "Automatically find column and row labels" was selected in Tools > Options > Calc > Calculate:. With and without that box selected I've tried various versions of Insert > Names > Define and defining labels for each column.

The latest version of OpenOffice only exports to pdf and certainly doesn't give me any options remotely like "Export Field Names".

Does anyone have a clue if this is an OpenOffice issue or a PrintMaster issue and, better yet, how to solve it?

Thank you,
Sue



JasonC -> RE: Incorrectly formatted field name information (8/7/2015 12:22:49 PM)

Newer versions of Open Office has changed the way MS Office formatting occurs in the program and as a result when saving the file, it may not save anymore if you try to save it as a Excel document format due to the way the formatting is now handled. You may wish to try going back a few versions and see if this solves the issue.



suetoo -> RE: Incorrectly formatted field name information (8/7/2015 1:42:31 PM)

Thank you. I've gone back and installed ever earlier versions of OpenOffice until I had gotten to 3.2. It still fails and I don't have any earlier versions stashed on my machine. Can you suggest a spreadsheet program (cheap or free works best for me, right now) that does export with the correct formatting?



ellengard -> RE: Incorrectly formatted field name information (8/7/2015 2:47:51 PM)

Since the csv file is giving you problems, what about trying another format, such as txt?

Re: your csv file (sorry if this is an obvious question), have you verified that the field names in the first line EXACTLY match the PrintMaster field names?



suetoo -> RE: Incorrectly formatted field name information (8/7/2015 4:31:01 PM)

Thank you. Yes, the headers appear to match exactly - at least for the visible characters. Do any of you know what the latest version of OpenOffice that does save properly is? Current versions seem to think .csv are the only text options anyone could possibly want. On the other hand, it almost seems like Printmaster is stuck. Is there a way to make sure the error is cleared between trials? Do you know where and how it stores its error conditions? Really. This used to work just fine for me and not all that long ago.



suetoo -> RE: Incorrectly formatted field name information (8/7/2015 5:59:47 PM)

I've read online about free file converters and have tried one. Still get the error message. Can someone tell me what the addressbook import file *SHOULD* look like and I'll write my own? If it works, I'll share.



suetoo -> RE: Incorrectly formatted field name information (8/7/2015 6:36:44 PM)

Got it!!! Of course the issue had nothing to do with the header! The work around isn't even all that odious. Okay. In OpenOffice, save to .csv, like normal. Do not choose to add quotes. Do choose for numbers to be as they appear. Once you have a .csv file, open it in notepad. Choose edit > Replace. In the Replace dialog box fill in the "Find what:" box with four commas (,,,,). Leave the "Replace with:" box blank and select Replace All. This will strip the four trailing commas from each line which is what has caused the issue. The resulting .csv file imports just like it should.

Thank you for your help and suggestions.



ellengard -> RE: Incorrectly formatted field name information (8/7/2015 11:04:50 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: suetoo
... the headers appear to match exactly - at least for the visible characters... strip the four trailing commas from each line which is what has caused the issue...

Thanks for sharing your solution. Extra characters that aren't part of the headers or data would certainly mess up the import.



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