Keyword file format with {synonyms} is too finicky

Question

I just created a 4000 term keyword file, hierarchically organized.  i used excel to create the organization.  this was not an easy task because it seems that lightroom requires a file organized to look like this
main keyword
               subkeyword
                         subsubkeyword {synonym}
main keyword2
               subkeyword2
                    subsubkeyword2
                         subsubsubsubkeyword {synonym}
etc
my original excel file looked like this
main keyword        subkeyword          subsubkeyword                                        {synonym}
main keyword2      subkeyword2       subsubkeyword2 subsubsubkeyword {synonym2}
It was not easy to get all of the synonyms lined up with the final subkeyword, because the hierarchy length varied.  I couldnt just remove repeated tabs because the keywords had to have repeated tabs to end up at the right level.
it would be great if lightroom could use a more standard spreadsheet format.  Of course, perhaps there is a simpler way that i am overlooking.

Answer 1

the problem was not so much converting from columns to rows which can be done using sequence numbers and copying and deleting as needed.  the problem is in moving the synonyms so that there are not duplicate tabs between the last keyword and the synonyms.  If i understand correctly the synonyms have to be on the same line as the last subkeyword and with only one tab between keyword and synonyms.  i wrote some formulas that did this but it was only a partially automated method and very messy.
As you say, the format is a poor one.