CSV file detected as SYLK file in Excel

Avishkar Autar · May 19 2011 · Random

Working on some CSV export code and encountered this weird error when opening the CSV file in Excel,

Excel has detected that 'test.csv' is a SYLK file, but cannot load it. Either the file has errors or it is not a SYLK file format. Click OK to try to open the file in a different format.

The file was certainly a CSV file; I had no clue what an SYLK file was.

The issue, as I discovered here, is due to the first 2 letters in the file being “ID” (which was the name of the first column); change this to something else (e.g. “Id”) and the file loads correctly without any warnings or errors.

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2 Comments

  1. Guest
    Jan 3 2012 · Link

    I think the problem is that the first two characters of your text file
    are “ID”. This identifies the text file as a SYLK (SYmbolic LinK) file.

  2. Lewis Wells
    Sep 18 2012 · Link

    Hey man thanks for posting this! What a nice little find! Saved me a packet of time!!!

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