Import extensions.csv bug?

1

Hi!. I am on FreePBX 13 and have to change all the extension numbers. Though there are not too much of them and I can do it manually, I decided to test the Bulk Handler. I reproduce here the issue to facilitate understanding:

  1. I acessed the Bulk Handler, Extensions tab and clicked on Export.
  2. FreePBX downloaded the file extensions.csv
  3. I changed the extensions number using Excel Ctrl+H in order to avoid skipping any extension old number. In total 7 extension number changes per extension.
  4. I saved the file as .csv
  5. I opened the file and indeed it is formated as Comma Separated Values, not as .xlsx
  6. I clicked on the Import tab, selected the extensions.csv file and clicked Submit

It will not import but display a message: Header row and data row count do not match
Screenshot here http://awesomescreenshot.com/0cc66eoyc2 link valid for three days.

I did not change anything but the extension numbers. How come the header row and data row count do not match? Perhaps I am missing something or maybe this is a bug: the file is not correctly exported. Any advice to solve this issue is welcome. :slight_smile:

2

I’ll bet you used Excel to modify the file, right?

Check the “action” column and make sure there is one. After that, make sure you turn on the check box to always wrap the fields in quotes.

Excel’s CSV handling capabilities leave something to be desired.

If you want to try something else, open the file in WordPad instead. Make your changes that way, and save the file out. It might make a difference.

3

Hi cynjut. Many thanks! :slight_smile:
I decided to delete the old extensions and create new ones. Now I am struggling to make them online. Configuration is ok, but well, need to wait for FreePBX to think about it! :slight_smile: Thanks.

4

I did something like this for a client once.

We consolidated all of the phones from three smaller PBX systems into a large one. I took the CSV export from the three little systems and consolidated it into a big file. Then, I copied all of the lines from the file and pasted them into the file again.

For the action on the first half, I used “remove” (or was it “delete”) and for the action on the second half I used “add”. It was some overkill, but I wanted to get rid of the test extensions I’d built for the demo and acceptance test and that was the simplest way I could think of.

It shouldn’t take very long to do a small installation import. It seems to me with 200 extensions, it took less than five minutes.

5

Hi Dave, many thanks!

My extensions are working now, but which .csv editor should I use in order to avoid excel breaking the file?

6

Hi We use Libre Office and there is an option in export to csv that adds speech marks to all fields so import ok , never have an issue with it.

7

Ian, Thanks! :slight_smile: We do not use Libre Office. Do you have any experience if it will work with the Notepad (.txt) from Windows 10?

8

Any reasonable text editor should work. Just remember that you need to quote anything with a comma (like “last name, first name”), but it should work fine.