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SyRF User Guide

Opening CSV Files

SyRF exports data in CSV (Comma-Separated Values) format. When you export data, SyRF lets you choose which delimiter to use, and it automatically selects the best option for your region. In most cases, your export will open correctly in Excel without any extra steps.

If you are working with an older export (before the delimiter selector was added) or the automatic default was not right for your setup, the troubleshooting steps further down this page can help.

Choosing your CSV delimiter

When exporting data from any of the export pages (Bibliographic, Screening, Annotation, or Quantitative), you will see a CSV delimiter option with three choices:

  • Comma (,) – the default for most spreadsheet applications. SyRF selects this automatically when your browser language uses a full stop (.) as the decimal separator (e.g. English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean).
  • Semicolon (;) – for locales where comma is the decimal separator. SyRF selects this automatically when your browser language uses a comma (,) for decimals (e.g. German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish). Semicolon-delimited files open correctly in Excel on these systems.
  • Tab – produces a .tsv file with universal compatibility across all locales. This is a good choice if you are unsure which delimiter to use, or if you plan to share the file with colleagues in different regions.

SyRF detects your browser’s language setting and picks the appropriate default automatically. You can override the default at any time by selecting a different option before clicking the export button.

Tip: If your exports have previously opened with all data in a single column, try exporting again with the Semicolon or Tab delimiter selected. The file should open correctly in Excel without any manual import steps.

Troubleshooting older exports

The sections below describe manual workarounds for CSV files that were exported before the delimiter selector was available, or for cases where you need to open a file with a different delimiter than expected.

Common issue: all data in a single column

If you open a SyRF export in Excel and all the data appears in one column instead of being split across multiple columns, this is a regional settings issue.

Why this happens: In some regions (particularly continental Europe), the comma is used as the decimal separator (e.g., 3,14 instead of 3.14). To avoid ambiguity, these systems use semicolons (;) as the column separator. When you double-click a .csv file, Excel uses your system’s list separator – so a comma-delimited file won’t be split into columns.

Excel (Windows)

Option 1: Use “Data > From Text/CSV” (recommended)

  1. Open Excel (with an empty workbook)
  2. Go to Data tab > Get & Transform Data > From Text/CSV
  3. Select your downloaded .csv file
  4. In the preview window, ensure Delimiter is set to Comma
  5. Click Load

Option 2: Change Windows regional settings temporarily

  1. Open Control Panel > Region > Additional settings
  2. Change List separator from ; to ,
  3. Open the CSV file normally
  4. Change the setting back when done

Excel (Mac)

Excel on Mac derives its CSV delimiter from your system’s decimal separator (set in System Settings > General > Language & Region > Number format). If your Mac is set to an English-speaking locale, comma-delimited CSVs will open correctly.

If your Mac uses a European locale (e.g., French, German) where the decimal separator is a comma, Excel will expect semicolons in CSV files – the same issue as on Windows. Use File > Import and select CSV file, then choose Comma as the delimiter.

LibreOffice Calc

When opening a .csv file, use File > Open and check the Edit filter settings checkbox in the Open dialog. This opens the Text Import dialog where you can select Comma as the delimiter.

Note: In older versions of LibreOffice (before 25.8), the delimiter dialog appeared automatically. In LibreOffice 25.8+, you must explicitly check “Edit filter settings” to see it.

Google Sheets

  1. Go to Google Sheets
  2. File > Import > Upload your CSV file
  3. Set Separator type to Comma (or leave as “Detect automatically” – Google Sheets typically handles comma-delimited files correctly)

Using exported data in R

R’s read.csv() and readr’s read_csv() functions expect comma delimiters by default.

If you exported with a semicolon delimiter, use read.csv2() or read_csv2() instead. If you exported with a tab delimiter, use read.delim() or read_tsv().

# Comma-delimited export (default for English locales)
library(readr)
data <- read_csv("my_export.csv")

# Semicolon-delimited export (default for European locales)
data <- read_csv2("my_export.csv")

# Tab-delimited export (.tsv)
data <- read_tsv("my_export.tsv")

Using exported data in Python 

import pandas as pd

# Comma-delimited (default for English locales)
data = pd.read_csv("my_export.csv")

# Semicolon-delimited (default for European locales)
data = pd.read_csv("my_export.csv", sep=";")

# Tab-delimited (.tsv)
data = pd.read_csv("my_export.tsv", sep="\t")

Python’s pandas library handles all delimiter types when you specify the sep parameter. Comma is the default if sep is not specified.