Bug 158679 - Calc Import - Text Import Dialog corrupts fixed width data, removes characters between the delimiters
Summary: Calc Import - Text Import Dialog corrupts fixed width data, removes character...
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
7.6.4.1 release
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: CSV-Column-Limitations
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Reported: 2023-12-13 11:04 UTC by Tom Daly
Modified: 2025-12-13 03:14 UTC (History)
0 users

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Description Tom Daly 2023-12-13 11:04:41 UTC
Description:
Fixed width data delimited by commas, for example:

"ABCDEF:  ",201  ,200  ,0   ,"XX     ",224   ,"12345XYZ    ",99

The quotation marks, which are part of the data, are removed by the import process. 




Steps to Reproduce:
Using the example data provided:

1.menu: edit/paste special/paste special/use text import dialog
2.select "fixed width"
3.place a marker before and after each comma
4.click OK

Actual Results:
The quotation marks, which are part of the data, are removed by the import process. 

Expected Results:
The data is fixed width. The data between the delimiters must not be modified.

Referring to the example data:

Column A should contain
"ABCDEF:  "

Column E should contain
"XX     " 

The quotation marks are part of the data and should appear in the cell. 


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
This also happens in version 7.4. I updated to 7.6 and the defect exists in both versions. 

-------

Version: 7.4.4.2 / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 85569322deea74ec9134968a29af2df5663baa21
CPU threads: 2; OS: Linux 5.9; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

-------

Version: 7.6.4.1 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: e19e193f88cd6c0525a17fb7a176ed8e6a3e2aa1
CPU threads: 2; OS: Linux 5.9; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Flatpak
Calc: threaded

-------

Selecting column type "Standard" or Text" during import makes no difference. 

Also, switching from "Fixed width" to "Separated by" and setting "String delimiter" to nothing then switching back to "Fixed width" for the rest of the dialog makes no difference.
Comment 1 ady 2023-12-13 11:41:37 UTC
While I can arrive to the desired result using the "Separated by" alternative, I guess that's not the point of the report.

I'm not sure whether there is some set of options that would achieve the desired result using "Fixed width".

Perhaps some of the grayed out options should rather be available for the "Fixed width" alternative too?

Setting as NEW.
Comment 2 QA Administrators 2025-12-13 03:14:12 UTC
Dear Tom Daly,

To make sure we're focusing on the bugs that affect our users today, LibreOffice QA is asking bug reporters and confirmers to retest open, confirmed bugs which have not been touched for over a year.

There have been thousands of bug fixes and commits since anyone checked on this bug report. During that time, it's possible that the bug has been fixed, or the details of the problem have changed. We'd really appreciate your help in getting confirmation that the bug is still present.

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Please DO NOT

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