TrueFormat CSV Integrity Check

Catch silent CSV corruption before it reaches Odoo's import engine

Excel silently corrupts CSV data before ERP import - scientific notation on long IDs, stripped leading zeros, flipped dates, hidden characters, and near-duplicate records. Odoo's import engine validates structure, not values, so this corruption passes through undetected and surfaces later as reconciliation and reporting failures.

This module runs any CSV through TrueFormat's integrity check directly from within Odoo, before you import. It flags exactly what changed, returns a clear report, and can download a corrected copy of the file.

What it detects

Hidden characters

Zero-width spaces, non-breaking spaces, control characters and stray CSV metacharacters inside fields - each reported with its exact position.

Date corruption

Ambiguous day/month values, mixed date formats within a column, and spreadsheet date serials.

Format flips

Scientific notation on long identifiers, stripped leading zeros, and cells that break their column's dominant format.

Near-duplicate records

Values that differ only in case, whitespace or trailing punctuation - grouped, with every raw variant listed.

How it works

1. Open TrueFormat → CSV Integrity Check and attach a .csv file (up to 20 MB / 250,000 rows).
2. Click Check File - the report lists every flagged cell or column with its issue type, location, original value and an explanation.
3. Optionally click Get Corrected File to download a copy with safe mechanical corrections applied. Issues that need human judgment, or where data was already destroyed by the spreadsheet tool, are never auto-fixed - they stay in the report so you can correct them at the source.

The module is a thin connector: all detection logic runs on the TrueFormat API, files are processed in-memory, and nothing is stored. Configuration is two system parameters - trueformat.api_key and (optionally) trueformat.api_endpoint.

Requires an active TrueFormat subscription (£5,000 per year or £800 per month), your API key, and the requests Python library (included in standard Odoo installs).