Guardium audit reports viewed in Microsoft Excel have rows with unexpected characters

If you view an Audit report in .csv and see rows with unexpected characters, use another .csv viewer or view it as a .pdf file.

Symptoms

When you view an Audit report (in .csv format) in Microsoft Excel, you notice that certain rows are filled with unexpected characters. The characters might look similar to what you find in the full SQL column. The problem is not seen in .pdf reports or in GUI reports.

Causes

Microsoft Excel has a limit on what a cell can contain of 32,767 characters. If your captured SQL is longer than this limit, it will spill over onto the next row.

Environment

The Collector, Aggregator, and Central Manager are affected.

Resolving the problem

Use another .csv viewer that has a larger limit on characters per cell or view the audit report as a .pdf file instead.