Formatting text in CSV import

[Jennifer]

Hello,

Even though I don’t feel it is necessary for my question, here is my info on my SLP and WP versions, etc.

WP – Version 4.5.3

SLP and add-ons (Most recent versions – see attached screenshot)

 

I just have a pretty simple question. How can I format text for the description field when importing via CSV file. Since it’s a CSV, would I be able to add comma’s in the text? Also, when I put text in the CSV, it will have breaklines (not html br’s, but from hitting the enter/return key on the keyboard). However, when it shows up on the site, it is just one big block of text.

So basically, is there a way to do some basic formatting for paragraph text in the CSV file that will be displayed correctly on store pages when imported? Going through each locations after it’s been uploaded and adding breaklines and comma’s manually is not going to be an option, or at least not for my client.

In addition to that, I also ran into an issue with adding special characters in the CSV. I needed to add the Registered Trademark symbol, but ended messing up the import and a bunch of locations (the ones that were after the location with the special character) didn’t import correctly. I tried pasting the symbol directly into the csv, and also tried using character codes.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jennifer]

Hello Cici,

 

I apologize if my message wasn’t clear enough. Also, I’m not sure what you mean when you asked what type of extended data am I trying to input.

*NOTE – all info for locations is added and updated via the CSV file import. With having hundreds of locations, going into each location separately in the SLP location manager and formatting paragraphs and entering special characters is not an option for our client. They want everything to be done directly to their CSV file.

Really all I need is a way to:

1) When I enter paragraphs of text into the CSV, for the description column. I need them to display as paragraphs on the store page. Currently the text on the store page shows up as one big block of text.

For example, if I paste this description in the “description” field (in the csv):
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus varius scelerisque mi, ac tempus urna facilisis quis. Morbi sollicitudin rutrum ex, eget ultrices erat interdum lacinia. Suspendisse a ullamcorper ligula. Pellentesque ut commodo arcu. Pellentesque id pharetra justo, ac eleifend mi. Vivamus venenatis nisi nunc, eget feugiat libero ultrices ac. Nullam et quam vel nunc maximus faucibus et quis metus. Quisque vel fermentum arcu. Suspendisse blandit nibh nulla.

Aenean ornare lacinia tortor quis congue. Vivamus feugiat sem id massa aliquam malesuada. Pellentesque facilisis mollis nulla sit amet gravida. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Praesent quam tortor, convallis a nisi quis, tempus mattis neque. Pellentesque fermentum mauris in nisi finibus tincidunt. Aenean condimentum molestie ligula, ut eleifend purus. Nullam vel est id erat commodo semper. Pellentesque non mauris nec libero porta accumsan. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Maecenas vehicula pulvinar euismod.

Nulla nunc libero, vehicula quis placerat ac, bibendum et tellus. Nam ut tincidunt leo. Duis eget bibendum justo. Aenean posuere ultricies magna et volutpat. Morbi varius tristique dolor. Mauris sit amet ante purus. Vivamus pretium ligula porta quam egestas, et dapibus dolor sagittis. Vestibulum vulputate quam a rhoncus cursus. Sed laoreet, risus sed luctus iaculis, mi erat malesuada ex, a commodo purus ex a nisi. In felis neque, sollicitudin eget purus sed, egestas suscipit ipsum. Nulla facilisi. Nullam at tempus orci. Proin volutpat vel mi vitae malesuada. Integer condimentum vel purus in interdum.

It shows up like this on the store page:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus varius scelerisque mi, ac tempus urna facilisis quis. Morbi sollicitudin rutrum ex, eget ultrices erat interdum lacinia. Suspendisse a ullamcorper ligula. Pellentesque ut commodo arcu. Pellentesque id pharetra justo, ac eleifend mi. Vivamus venenatis nisi nunc, eget feugiat libero ultrices ac. Nullam et quam vel nunc maximus faucibus et quis metus. Quisque vel fermentum arcu. Suspendisse blandit nibh nulla. Aenean ornare lacinia tortor quis congue. Vivamus feugiat sem id massa aliquam malesuada. Pellentesque facilisis mollis nulla sit amet gravida. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Praesent quam tortor, convallis a nisi quis, tempus mattis neque. Pellentesque fermentum mauris in nisi finibus tincidunt. Aenean condimentum molestie ligula, ut eleifend purus. Nullam vel est id erat commodo semper. Pellentesque non mauris nec libero porta accumsan. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Maecenas vehicula pulvinar euismod. Nulla nunc libero, vehicula quis placerat ac, bibendum et tellus. Nam ut tincidunt leo. Duis eget bibendum justo. Aenean posuere ultricies magna et volutpat. Morbi varius tristique dolor. Mauris sit amet ante purus. Vivamus pretium ligula porta quam egestas, et dapibus dolor sagittis. Vestibulum vulputate quam a rhoncus cursus. Sed laoreet, risus sed luctus iaculis, mi erat malesuada ex, a commodo purus ex a nisi. In felis neque, sollicitudin eget purus sed, egestas suscipit ipsum. Nulla facilisi. Nullam at tempus orci. Proin volutpat vel mi vitae malesuada. Integer condimentum vel purus in interdum.
Most descriptions for my locations are multiple paragraphs per location. So my questions is, how do I put paragraphs in the CSV (description column) so that they will show up as individual paragraphs on the store pages.

So from what you’re saying, I would put individual paragraphs inside double quotes? Or would I put the entire description (all paragraphs) inside one set of quotes and it would pickup the breaklines (hard return from hitting the enter key on the keyboard)?

 

2) Some of our locations have the registered trademark symbol next to the name. How would I be able to add these special characters without having to add each one manually in the SLP location manager (clicking edit on each individual location)

 

Thanks,

Ryan

[Cici]

Ryan,

Please refer to  information about formatting for CSV filess readily available in your excel or google sheets instruction or the internet.

You can not do a hard enter, a hard enter tabs down a row and puts it into the next line.

You can do a soft enter which is holding done the shift-enter key. Yes  if you want the description all in one with commas in  the paragraph it needs to be in double quotes

As far as copyright insertion, that is outside the scope of the Location Manager.  you can refer to how to use UTF-8  characters with excel. or in Google sheets

 

 

CSV cannot naturally represent hierarchical or object-oriented database or other data. This is because every CSV record is expected to have the same structure. CSV is therefore rarely appropriate for documents such as those created with HTML, XML, or other markup or word-processing technologies.

There is nothing magical about SLP  as far as how   csv files are constructed. Store Locator Plus just provides you the header fields and mechanism to get your information imported via a CSV file.

 

 

 

 

[Author]

Posts