Problem loading local csv file

Questions
1

Describe the problem/error/question

Hi, I’m new to n8n and finding it very interesting and powerful tool but running into some very basic issues that I’m not finding answers to. I have a simple workflow that I want to open a CSV file and add to it based on the results from a HTTP retreiver. The issue is the Read/Write file node doesn’t seem to load the contents of the file, it just shows me the file name and location. I’ve tried linking this to a convert to csv node and have not had success.

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I have it linked to an Extract from File node and don’t get any data in the output

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If I have the Operation to Extract from Text File I can see the contents:

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I then tried to convert it to CSV but the output seems to be emtpy:

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Please share your workflow

Share the output returned by the last node

Information on your n8n setup

  • n8n version: 1.74.3
  • Database (default: SQLite): Default
  • n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main): Manual
  • Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app): npm
  • Operating system: MacOSX 15.2
2

Welcome to the community @Joelh!

Seems to be working fine for me. I’m pretty sure the problem you have because the file saved to the disk is not in the correct format.

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Did you save it with n8n workflow too? If so, then you likely did it wrong.

3

thanks so much for testing. This is very strange. I got the file by downloading from a google sheet. I just tested again with a file from Numbers saved as a CSV.

The contents of the file is just:

id,Threads,rate Limit,Rate Limit Remainining,Wait Time,
123,test,200,200,200,

I also tried putting everything between quotes.

If I change the source type to text I can see the contents but nothing when csv is selected.

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4

You mentioned the file might not be the right format. What would the correct format be for n8n?

5

Ok, well I guss I’m an idiot. I tested with a few other files and got it to work. I think one of my files had an extra comma (column) in it that was not in one of the rows. Anyway, thanks for the help, I’m moving forward now :slight_smile:

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