How do I save data so it can be imported??

Question

Hello, everyone.
On my WP website, I 'export' data, and it comes up as simple text in a new browser window, which I simply copy and paste to save it. No problem so far.
1) However, I have to save it as an .rtf file, which is not recognized by Numbers.
If I drag the file into a new sheet, then it won't position all the data into the corresponding columns and stuff, but put it all into a one single column.
2) I try to "rename" this .rtf file, and simply change the extension to .csv, but once I do this, some weird code is added at the beginning of the file, which consequently messes up the import process.
So, my question is: how do I save this raw/simple data into a file that can be imported into Numbers???

Answer 1

Numbers imports comma separated value (csv) files. It separates the data into columns based on the location of the commas and into rows when it hits a line break.
You can drag a tab separated value file to a cell in a Numbers table. It will separate the data into columns based on the location of the tabs and into rows based on line breaks.
You cannot simply change the extension to turn a rtf document into a csv document. You can open the rtf in TextEdit, change it to plain text, then save it as a plain text file with a csv extension but that won't necessarily make it a csv unless the data isn't separated by commas. It will, however, get rid of all the formatting code from the rtf document.
Without knowing what is in your file and whether the data is separated by commas, spaces, or tabs, it's hard to tell you what to do. It may require a find/replace in a text editor or via an Applescript to separate your data by the correct character type. Yvan has posted at least one script for this purpose. Because it sounds like you import files of this type on a regular basis, if you do need to change the separating character, I'd go with an Applescript.