How to use the Excel to CSV tool
- Choose an .xlsx workbook. Old .xls files must be re-saved as .xlsx in Excel first.
- Pick the sheet to convert, or All sheets to get one CSV per sheet. A preview of the chosen sheet appears.
- Choose the delimiter and whether to add a UTF-8 BOM or put quotes around every value.
- Press Convert and download the CSV, or all files as a ZIP.
Worked example: a workbook with two monthly sheets
sales.xlsx has two sheets, Jan with 32 rows and Feb with 29 rows. Choose All sheets and keep the comma delimiter and the BOM.
- You get 2 files: sales - Jan.csv and sales - Feb.csv, which you can also download together as a ZIP.
- A customer cell that reads Smith, J. is written as "Smith, J." with quotes, so the comma inside it does not start a new column.
- Lines end with a carriage return and line feed, the form Excel and most databases expect.
A workbook with only one sheet produces a single file named after the workbook, for example sales.csv.
Choosing the delimiter
Comma is the default for most software and websites. Many European versions of Excel use a comma as the decimal mark, so they expect semicolons between fields; choose semicolon for them. Tab gives a TSV file, which is handy when your data is full of commas. Pipe is common for data feeds and bank imports. Whatever you pick, any value that contains the delimiter, a quote or a line break is wrapped in quotes automatically, so the file always reads back correctly. Tick quote every value if a strict import tool insists on it.
What a CSV can and cannot hold
CSV is plain text: one table, one value per cell. Formulas are exported as their last calculated result, dates as text, and true or false values as TRUE and FALSE. Formatting, colours, merged cells, comments, charts and macros are not part of the format and are left behind. Each sheet becomes a separate file because a CSV can hold only one table. Password-protected workbooks need to be opened in Excel and saved without a password before they can be read here.
Your files stay on your device
The workbook is unzipped and read by code running in your browser, and the CSV text is written in a background worker on your device. Nothing is uploaded, so you can convert finance and HR exports without trusting a third-party server.
Frequently asked questions
Why do accented characters look wrong when I open the CSV in Excel?
Excel needs a byte order mark to recognise UTF-8. Keep Add a UTF-8 BOM ticked, which is the default.
Can I convert every sheet at once?
Yes. Choose All sheets. Each sheet becomes its own CSV named after the workbook and the sheet, and you can download them as one ZIP.
Are formulas kept?
No. CSV holds values only, so each formula is exported as the value Excel last calculated.
Does it work with .xls files?
Not with the old binary .xls format. Open the file in Excel or LibreOffice, save it as .xlsx, then convert it here.
Which delimiter should I use for European Excel?
Semicolon. Versions that use a decimal comma expect semicolons between fields.