# Error Loading CSV Files with Neo4j macOS Desktop App

**URL:** <https://community.neo4j.com/t/error-loading-csv-files-with-neo4j-macos-desktop-app/8951>\
**Category:** Newbie Questions\
**Created:** [July 22, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/error-loading-csv-files-with-neo4j-macos-desktop-app/8951 "2019-07-22T22:40:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ciro](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex021/user_avatar/community.neo4j.com/ciro/32/5728_2.png) [@Ciro](https://community.neo4j.com/u/Ciro)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/error-loading-csv-files-with-neo4j-macos-desktop-app/8951/1 "2019-07-22T22:40:58Z")

</div>

I'm running the Neo4J desktop app (V1.2.1) for macOS (v10.14.5). I downloaded the Northwinds database to follow along the "Import Data into Neo4j" tutorial in the online developer guides.

1. I created a local database
2. Started it in the desktop app
3. I launched the Neo4j browser (V3.2.20)
4. Copied the following commands from the tutorial  
USING PERIODIC COMMIT  
LOAD CSV WITH HEADERS FROM "file:customers.csv" AS row  
CREATE (:Customer {companyName: row.CompanyName, customerID: row.CustomerID, fax: row.Fax, phone: row.Phone});
5. The app returns the following error message "Neo.DatabaseError.General.UnknownError: URI is not hierarchical"

Can you help me decipher this message so I can understand what I need to do to have the app properly upload the CSV file?

Thanks,  
Ciro

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dana\_canzano](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex021/user_avatar/community.neo4j.com/dana_canzano/32/27392_2.png) [@dana\_canzano](https://community.neo4j.com/u/dana_canzano)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 10:31am UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/error-loading-csv-files-with-neo4j-macos-desktop-app/8951/2 "2019-07-23T10:31:09Z")

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Can you change the Cypher statement to

```auto
USING PERIODIC COMMIT
LOAD CSV WITH HEADERS FROM "file:///customers.csv" AS row
CREATE (:Customer {companyName: row.CompanyName, customerID: row.CustomerID, fax: row.Fax, phone: row.Phone});

```

changing file:customers.csv to file:///customers.csv. Also I presume the customers.csv is located in the import directory?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ciro](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex021/user_avatar/community.neo4j.com/ciro/32/5728_2.png) [@Ciro](https://community.neo4j.com/u/Ciro)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 12:01pm UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/error-loading-csv-files-with-neo4j-macos-desktop-app/8951/3 "2019-07-23T12:01:57Z")

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Dana,  
You're a Neo4j whisperer! That worked beautifully, but why?

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer a simple, newbie question. I really appreciate it!  
Regards,  
Ciro

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dana\_canzano](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex021/user_avatar/community.neo4j.com/dana_canzano/32/27392_2.png) [@dana\_canzano](https://community.neo4j.com/u/dana_canzano)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 1:27pm UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/error-loading-csv-files-with-neo4j-macos-desktop-app/8951/4 "2019-07-23T13:27:31Z")

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[LOAD CSV - Cypher Manual](https://neo4j.com/docs/cypher-manual/3.5/clauses/load-csv/) makes a number of references to file:///, for example

File URLs will be resolved relative to the `dbms.directories.import` directory. For example, a file URL will typically look like `file:///myfile.csv` or `file:///myproject/myfile.csv` .