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Symptoms

hen you try to import a comma-separated values (.csv) file in Outlook 2010 or Outlook 2013, you see the following error:

Translation Error

A file error has occured in the Comma Separated Values translator while initializing a translator to build a field map.

Outlook was unable to retrieve the data from the file <file name>. Verify that you have the correct file, that you have permission to open it, and that it is not open in another program.

Cause

The .csv file that you want to import does not use the CR+LF (Carriage Return + Line Feed) control characters to represent line breaks.

Resolution

Open the .csv file in another application, such as Microsoft Excel, and then use Save As to save the contents as a new .csv file. Then, use Outlook to import the new .csv file.

More Information

The characters that are used to represent a line break are known as a record delimiter string.

Some Mac or Unix systems may represent a line break by using only a Line Feed (LF) control character. Other systems may use completely different line break control characters.

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