Excel does not properly render line breaks when importing CSV files coming from the Jira application
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Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Summary
When importing into Excel a CSV export generated from a Jira issue search, columns that include line breaks are not properly rendered. Instead of being included in the same cell, the lines are spread across multiple cells:
Environment
Jira Server / Data Center on any version
Microsoft Excel on any version
Cause
This issue is not caused by the actual CSV export generated by Jira but instead it is caused by a limitation with Microsoft Excel. Basically, if a field in the CSV file contains line breaks, the Excel import is unable to identify that these line breaks should be combined into 1 single cell, rather than multiple cells.
You can find more information about this limitation in the discussions linked below:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2668678/importing-csv-with-line-breaks-in-excel-2007
https://superuser.com/questions/926786/removing-line-breaks-from-csv-for-proper-excel-import
Solution
Solution 1
One option is to use a different tool than Excel to open the CSV file.
For example:
You can use the Apple Numbers application to open the CSV file
Or you can import the CSV in a Google Sheet:
Solution 2
If using a different tool than Excel is not an option, you can use Excel's "Get Data (Power Query)" functionality to import the CSV file, by following the steps below:
Open a fresh empty Excel sheet
Go to Data > Get Data (Power Query):
Select Text/CSV:
Select the CSV file to be imported:
You can see below how the data will be rendered by using this method:
ℹ️Please note that this solution is not ideal: even though the description is located within the same Excel cell, the actual line breaks are removed and all the lines are rendered as one single line.
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