I had some long time consuming delays with easy populate and wasn't able to find a solution online. I wanted to share my problem and solution. I figure if I had the problem others must too. I have a client who's supplier sends him an xlsx file with most data needed for the easy populate csv file, however it doesn't easily covert because of commas, quotes - apostrophes (used for measurement description), bullet points and more. Hours of frustrations.
First if your using Open Office calc open your downloaded easy populate cvs file and convert it (save as) to a .ods spreadsheet for a friendly work area. DO-NOT convert it to an xl file. I found the hard way that open office will limit the number of characters in a table cell cutting my descriptions length in half. - I was scratch my head for hours.
Second because the upload file needs to be a .csv you can't have commas quotes or apostrophes. What do I do when my product description needs em'? I searched and searched online and I read a lot about what options to select when I save as csv. Nothing worked. Somehow I remembered my old school basic html special characters. After I had place in all the descriptions I did a find and replace
Comma - , replace with ,
quotes - " replace with "
Apostrophe - ' replace with '
Bullet Points - • replace with •
Then save as .csv leave the field delimiter as a comma and delete the quote from text delimiter so it's blank.
Now your csv file is ready to be imported. I hope this helps and save you from frustration and time.