How to change a delimiter/separator in CSV file

Question:

How can I change a delimiter in CSV file? I am not able to upload a CSV to the Pushwoosh Control Panel in order to update Tag values or import new email contacts.

Answer:

Before uploading the file, make sure that:

• the delimiter is a comma (,);
• the file is saved in UTF-8 encoding — a non-UTF-8 file is a very common cause of failed or partially imported uploads;
• the file is saved in plain CSV format (not .xlsx), and is under 100 MB.

Here are the most common ways to change the delimiter. A CSV file is essentially a plain text document, so it can be edited in any text editor or in spreadsheet software.

Method 1: Using a text editor (most reliable)

1. Open the file in a plain text editor (Notepad on Windows, TextEdit on macOS in plain-text mode, or VS Code).
2. Replace the delimiter with Find and Replace: press Ctrl + H (Windows) or Cmd + H (macOS), search for ;, replace with ,, then Replace All. Careful: if any cell value itself contains a semicolon, replace only the field separators.
3. Save the file and make sure the encoding is UTF-8 (in VS Code use "Save with Encoding", in Notepad choose UTF-8 in the Save As dialog).

Method 2: Using Excel or other spreadsheet software

Note that Excel’s Save As dialog does not let you pick a delimiter — it always writes the list separator configured in your operating system’s regional settings. So:

1. Open the file in Excel: File > Open, select your CSV, and in the Text Import Wizard specify ; as the delimiter so the columns split correctly.
2. Make Excel write commas. Either change the system list separator to a comma (Windows: Control Panel → Region → Additional settings → List separator = ,), or save as CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv), which writes commas and UTF-8 in current Excel versions.
3. Verify the result by opening the saved file in a text editor: fields must be separated by commas.

Alternative: Google Sheets

Import the file into Google Sheets, then use File > Download > Comma-separated values (.csv). Google Sheets always exports comma-delimited UTF-8.

See Update tags via CSV for the full list of file requirements.