Are you having trouble viewing your results CSV file? Don't worry, you've come to the right place!
- I don't see all my data
- All my data is in one column
- Data/special characters are not displayed correctly
- My spreadsheet is too big
1. I don't see all of my data
Certain Phantoms may display a limited amount of certain data points in your output CSV instead of the entirety (e.g. with LinkedIn Profile Scraper you will only see a couple of the user's previous jobs instead of all of them). In these instances, your JSON file will display all of the data. If you would like to view all of the data in a spreadsheet form, you can use a JSON to CSV converter.
The default setting of the Phantoms will cause the data to accumulate in the CSV file with each subsequent launch. The JSON file, however, will only contain the data from the last launch.
Exception: the LinkedIn Profile Scraper is the only Phantom where, by default, will collect all the results in the JSON file. For all other Phantoms, the default settings cause the data to accumulate in the CSV file with each subsequent launch, and the JSON will only contain the data from the last launch. So if you don’t want this behaviour in the LinkedIn Profile Scraper, you just have to tick the box Keep only current results in JSON.
For more information, check out this article.
2. All of my data is in one column
If you're a Mac user, you might have experienced this particular problem. If your file is too large, Apple Numbers merges all of your data into one column. In this case, we suggest switching to Apache OpenOffice instead.
You might have also come across this problem when using Zapier to send your output data to Google Sheets. If so, please check our how-to Zapier article for help in setting up your Zap correctly.
3. Data/special characters are not displayed correctly
When opening CSV files with Microsoft Excel, the data does not convert cleanly. Problems can include cells being separated in the wrong places and special characters such as accents (e.g. â, é, ö) being distorted.
To correctly display CSV files on Excel, you should go to Data -> Get Data -> From File -> From Text/CSV, then import the file using the UTF-8 Format with the Comma as Delimiter. You can find many online tutorials to help you if you're having trouble with this.
Alternatively, special characters will be well handled if you use the IMPORTDATA function in Google Sheets.
4. My spreadsheet is too big
Often with scraping, you're dealing with pretty large numbers when it comes to output data. If this is the case, you may have encountered problems with opening your results file across different programs. Here are some reasons:
- The IMPORTDATA function in Google Sheets has a relatively low maximum capacity
- Google Drive can't open an imported file over a certain size
- Apple Numbers can't handle spreadsheets over a certain amount of cells
From our experience, the best solution is to use Apache OpenOffice - it will allow you to open large files super easily and without any distortion!
However, you can still import the data on Google Sheets manually. You'll need to:
1. Download CSV from the Phantom's Console page
2. On the relevant tab of your spreadsheet: File > Import > *Select your .csv file* > Replace current sheet.
A downside to this method is that you'll have to repeat this process whenever you want your data to be refreshed until the entire list of profiles has been processed.
If you think this article does not address your issue, please contact Support directly. We are continuously improving, so your feedback means the world to us!