Tablora · Library
Keep the final empty column
A trailing comma, as in Mira,Ready, marks an empty last field. Keep it so every row has the same width and the empty value stays in its column.
A delimiter at the end of the line
When the last field of a record is empty, a CSV writer still writes the delimiter before it, so the line ends with a comma. Mira,Ready, has three fields: Mira, Ready and an empty third value. The comma looks like a typo, and deleting it seems harmless, but the row then has two fields while the header has three. Any later value in that position would move into the wrong column.
An empty field is information. It says that the value for that column is blank for this record, which is not the same as the column being absent.
The Mira,Ready, example
The page example has the header name,note,tag and the record Mira,Ready, with a comma as the Delimiter. The inspector reports 2 rows and 3 columns, and Rows with a different width shows 0. Row 2, column 3 is empty.
Remove the final comma and the same text reports a width difference for row 2. The trailing comma is what keeps the row aligned with its header.
Reviewing empty last fields
- Count the header fields and confirm that Columns matches.
- Check the last cell of rows ending in a delimiter and make sure it is empty, not filled with a value that moved from elsewhere.
- Leave the trailing delimiters in place.
- If you normalize numbers in a column with empty cells, note that empty cells are neither converted nor counted under Values left for review; they simply stay empty.
- Before importing, check how the receiving system treats an empty value, since some distinguish blank from unknown.
- Rows that end without the delimiter but should have an empty last field show up under Rows with a different width; add the delimiter only after the source confirms the value is blank.
Empty cells in downloads and in the app
Download (CSV) writes empty fields with their delimiters, so the trailing comma survives the round trip. The text-safe XLSX writes an empty text cell in that position.
The Tablora app keeps every row of a table the same width: if a row has fewer cells than the widest row, empty cells are added at the end. When it reads a page, it also leaves out any column in which every cell is empty, so a column that has no values at all on that page does not appear. If that column matters for your import, add it back in your spreadsheet.
When the empty cell should not be empty
If the source shows a value where your row has an empty last field, the data was lost before it reached you. Go back to the original export rather than typing a guess.
Original synthetic example
- Input
- name,note,tag Mira,Ready,
- Delimiter
- ,
- Expected records
- 2
- Columns in the first record
- 3
- Cell to inspect
- Row 2, column 3: (empty)