CSV response file includes slashes and carriage returns as separators/delimiters between EN and FR in column headings

[anikbrazeau]

Description

A support client noticed that the CSV response file (when opened in Notepad) shows LF characters (carriage return / line break) in the CSV file. This pattern happens for the form questions/labels, but not for the default columns such as submission ID, submission date, receipt codes.

Expected behaviour

This inconsistency could be mitigated by either:

• displaying column headings in the language of submission
• choosing to use slashes across columns to separate EN and FR
• choosing to use line breaks across columns to separate EN and FR
• showing an ID instead of a string

In terms of readability, one language might be easier to follow, but risks losing the association between EN and FR if data is processed unilingually.

In terms of scannability, a line break makes it easier to see the question label at a glance in the language of choice. Though there is still additional noise with both languages.

In terms of other possibilities, there's also the machine-readable tags work that might factor into this if an ID can be used instead of collating EN and FR strings.

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a form
2. Submit response
3. Download CSV
4. Open in Notepad
5. Open in Excel
6. See discrepancy

Details

• Browser: Chrome
• Operating system: Mac
• Environment: Production
• Language: English / French
• Viewport: Desktop

Screenshots or videos

Additional context

https://gcdigital.slack.com/archives/C03T4FAE9FV/p1734034022225009
https://dev.to/pranjal-barnwal/understanding-line-break-types-cr-lf-lf-and-cr-3lg2