Download format

SeamusCrowe

I fail to understand why Family Search provides downloads of searches in difficult formats - Sure it allows .csv and other well known formats but for the majority of users the output is next to useless as it can not be presented nor used easily.

If you look at the Irish Cenus formatting the data comes out in ready to use form with usable data and not the data that FS provides.

https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-census/

Has anyone found a way to untangle the data in these downloads without hours of labourious re-editing?

fbax

I downloaded some search results in CSV format; then opened the file with spreadsheet program. All data was nicely oranized into rows and columns. I used OnlyOffice (free) but MS-Excel should do the same.

Áine.ní.Donnghaile

Any time I download in CSV, MS Excel immediately reminds me I should save in Excel format to avoid losing any data.