I would allow the users to upload a CSV rather than some other format then the problem just goes away
We do allow users to upload a CSV file...
However, our target market is charities - they are often run by people with restricted IT skills and saving an Excel file as CSV will be beyond some of them.
But it probably makes sense to get this working with an uploaded CSV file then get the spreadsheet conversion working later.
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people with restricted IT skills and saving an Excel file as CSV will be beyond some of them
From my experience, those people with low IT skills don't even know that Excel can save in different formats, and so each and every file that opens in Excel is called an Excel file - CSV, XLS, XLSX, XLSM, and so on. Completely logical from their perspective, and a big mess when you are in IT or application support. But that is also an advantage. All they know is Excel and MS Office, and they don't have the slightest idea that things like OpenOffice / LibreOffice, KOffice or Gnumeric exist. Maybe some users with DOS experience still remember Lotus or Quattro Pro. So, it is very likely that almost all spreadsheet data comes in either as CSV or in one of the Excel formats.
Alexander
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Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)
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