CSV Viewer
Open a CSV and read it as a proper table in your browser. Detects the delimiter, paginates large files, and never uploads your data.
Related tools
All Data tools →This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to our servers, so there is nothing for us to store or see.
About the CSV Viewer
Open a CSV and read it as a table instead of as a wall of commas. Drop a file in or paste the text, and it is laid out with its header fixed in place. Everything happens on your own device and nothing is uploaded — which is the point, because the usual way to look at a CSV you were sent is to upload it somewhere, and a file worth reading carefully is usually one you should not be uploading at all.
It exists because opening a CSV in Excel is not a neutral act. Excel converts as it reads: product codes lose their leading zeros, anything shaped like a date becomes one, and long numbers turn into scientific notation. Once that has happened the file on screen is not the file you were sent, and if you save it the damage is permanent. Here nothing is interpreted — every value is shown exactly as the bytes in the file have it.
Large files are paginated rather than dropped into the page all at once, because a hundred thousand table rows will make any browser stop responding. The delimiter is detected by counting separators outside quoted fields, so a semicolon-separated European export is read correctly instead of arriving as one column — and if detection gets it wrong, the column count in the summary makes that obvious immediately.
How to use the CSV Viewer
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Add your CSV
Drop a .csv file onto the box or paste the text in. Dropping reads the file locally and never uploads it.
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Check the summary
The row and column counts appear above the table. A file you know has six fields showing one column means the delimiter was guessed wrongly — set it by hand.
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Read it
The header stays visible while you scroll the rows. Use the page controls for a large file, and widen the row count if you want more at once.
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Take it further
Nothing is modified here. To change the file, the sorter, column filter and deduplicate tools all take the same input.
Frequently asked questions
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read and rendered entirely inside your browser and nothing is sent to a server. You can disconnect from the internet once the page has loaded and it will keep working exactly as before, which is the simplest way to confirm it for yourself.
Why not just open the CSV in Excel?
Because Excel converts values as it reads them. Product codes lose their leading zeros, anything resembling a date becomes one, and long account numbers turn into scientific notation. The file on screen is then not the file you were sent — and saving it makes that permanent. Nothing is interpreted here.
Can it open a large file?
Yes, within reason. Rows are paginated rather than all being put into the page, because a hundred thousand table rows will make any browser stop responding. The whole file is still read, so the counts and the paging reflect all of it.
My file shows as one column. What happened?
The delimiter was almost certainly guessed wrongly — most often a semicolon-separated export from a European locale. Set the delimiter by hand and it will read correctly. The column count in the summary is there precisely so this is obvious rather than something you discover later.
Can I edit or sort the data here?
No, this tool only reads. That is deliberate — a viewer that quietly modifies what it shows is the problem it was built to avoid. Sorting, removing columns and removing duplicates each have their own tool, and they all accept the same input.