What is the biggest CSV Excel can handle?

Excel has a max row limit of 1,048,576 rows. If your CSV is more than 1 million rows, your CSV file is too big for Excel and you will need to use a more powerful spreadsheet like Row Zero to open and modify your CSV file.

What is the biggest CSV Google Sheets can handle?

Google Sheets supports a maximum of 10 million cells. In practice, it will not support most CSV files more than 1 million rows. To edit or format a big CSV of this size, you'll need to use a very large CSV editor like Row Zero.

What is the biggest CSV file Apple numbers will open?

Apple numbers has a max row limit is 1 million rows. If a CSV is imported with greater than 1,000,000 only the first million will be displayed.

What is the best Windows CSV editor?

Microsoft Excel is the most common Windows CSV editor. If you need a more powerful CSV editor, Row Zero is a good choice. Since Row Zero is an online CSV editor, it works with any operating system.

What is the best Mac CSV editor?

Apple Numbers can be used as a CSV editor. You can also use any online CSV editor like Google Sheets or Row Zero.

How do I handle special characters or commas within data fields in CSV files?

Ensure the data is enclosed in quotes. This way, the CSV parser recognizes the commas as part of the data, not as a separator. For example, a field containing a comma should be written inside quotation marks to avoid being misinterpreted as two separate fields.

What is the best way to manage large CSV files that exceed memory limits?

There are two options. First, consider using tools that run in the cloud, like Row Zero spreadsheets, that make use of cloud computers with more memory than is typically found on a local computer. Second, consider tools that support streaming or chunk processing, such as the read_csv function in Pandas with the chunksize parameter. This approach reads and processes the file in smaller portions, avoiding the need to load the entire file into memory at once.

Is it possible to edit CSV files directly on a server without downloading them?

Yes, it's possible to edit CSV files directly on a server by using SSH to access the server's command line, then employing text-based editors like vim or nano for direct editing, or running scripts for automated modifications. Another approach is to load the data directly from a server to another web based CSV editor, like Row Zero spreadsheets.

How can I ensure data integrity when editing CSV files?

To ensure data integrity when editing CSV files, always make backups before making changes, use reliable editing tools that preserve the original data format, and validate the data after editing to check for accidental modifications. Additionally, employing version control for critical files can help track changes and revert to previous states if needed.

Do you lose formatting when you download an Excel file as a CSV?

Yes, any visual formatting like text, date, and number formatting is lost with CSVs. CSVs only contain plain text data separated by commas.

Edit Big CSV Files

Edit your CSV with Row Zero

Edit big CSV file with Row Zero

How to edit a big CSV file?

Open the CSV in Row Zero. It's free and doesn't require a download. Row Zero works just like Excel or Google Sheets but won't crash or freeze when importing large CSV files. Row Zero is a fast, big CSV editor and viewer. Sort, filter, search (ctrl + F), edit columns, rows, and values, merge CSVs, and export back to CSV.

Edit a Big CSV with Row Zero

For more information, read on or skip to the sections below:

Open a big CSV
Clean and enrich CSVs
Merge or split CSVs
Format CSV files
Analyze a big CSV file
Export a CSV
What are CSVs?
Best tools for editing big CSVs
Common use cases for editing big CSVs
Conclusion

Open a big CSV

Row Zero makes it easy to open big CSV files in a powerful online spreadsheet. Simply select your file and import.

Click on the 'Data' menu to import from file, URL, or Amazon S3. S3 Tip: You can import from S3 with a presigned URL or connect a S3 Bucket.
Review import details and determine whether to import into cells or as a data table. Then click 'Import.'

Using Row Zero as a Powerful CSV editor

As a powerful online CSV editor, Row Zero has an array of features that are optimized to work with large data and also provide the flexibility needed to combine, transform, clean, enrich, and modify specific records. Below is a review of the Row Zero features that can be used to edit very large CSV files.

Clean and enrich CSVs

Cleaning and enriching large datasets requires finding specific records and deleting or modifying them. Row Zero provides 3 features to help clean and enrich your biggest CSV files: Filter, Sort, and Search with ctrl + F. Instructions for each feature can be found below.

Filter CSV Files

Row Zero makes it easy to filter CSV files by multiple criteria and across multiple columns. Filtering your CSV isolates subsets of data that meet certain criteria. It simplifies the process of focusing on particular categories, which can be useful for detailed examination when you need to edit a CSV file. It also makes it possible to find and delete specific data points from a CSV.
To filter CSV data in Row Zero, simply select your data with CTRL + A or CTRL + SHIFT and the arrow keys. Once your data range is selected, go to Data, Filter to apply filters. Drop down arrows will appear in the header row. Click on the header for the column to be filtered by and use the filter menu to choose the method. You can filter multiple criteria and filter multiple columns at the same time.
Categorical filter options include: is one of (this lets you select multiple entries), contains, does not contain, starts with, ends with, is, is not
Numerical filter options include: is one of, equal to, not equal to, greater than, greater than or equal to, less than, less than or equal to More detailed instructions can be found in the filter documenyation here.

Sort CSV Files

Row Zero makes it easy to sort CSV files. You can sort by multiple columns and filter and sort at the same time. Sorting your CSV arranges the CSV file's contents in ascending or descending order based on the values in a selected column. You can also sort multiple columns at once. It can be helpful for identifying duplicates, anomalies, minimums, and maximums.
There are 2 ways to sort CSV data in Row Zero:
- Apply sort via filter dropdown: If you have filters applied, simply click the filter dropdown in the column to sort by ascending or descending. By default, sorts are maintained across multiple columns. So if you sort column A descending and then sort Column B descending, rows with the same value in B will be sorted by Column A descending.
- Apply sort via Data menu: Select your data and go to Data, Sort and advanced sort options will appear that let you easily sort by multiple columns. More detailed instructions can be found in the sort documentation here.

Search CSV Files (Ctrl + F)

The Ctrl + F search function allows you to easily find specific values across millions of rows so you can easily edit a large CSV file. Search through data to update, modify, or delete specific entries.
To use the CTRL + F feature, navigate to the sheet in your Row Zero workbook that contains the imported CSV file. Press 'Control' + 'F' and the search feature will pop up in the upper right-hand corner. Enter the text or number you want to search for and Row Zero will find and highlight every instance. Use the up and down arrows to jump to the subsequent or previous occurrence.

Merge or split CSV files

Row Zero makes it easy to merge CSV files or split CSV into multiple files. Merging or splitting big CSV files requires a CSV editor that can modify millions of records at once. Row Zero provides several features that are easy to use with giant CSV files including cut, copy, and paste, XLOOKUP and VLOOKUP functions, and automated file merging. Typically copy paste, XLOOKUP, and VLOOKUP can be a challenge with big data sets and can cause traditional spreadsheets like Excel to slow down or crash with big files. Row Zero is optimized to work with large CSVs so you can combine multiple CSV files or transform your data as needed. Row Zero workbooks support many sheets. Each sheet can represent a different CSV file. So you can import multiple CSV into the same workbook to combine, or add new sheets to create new CSV files or split a CSV into multiple CSV files.

Cut, copy, and paste, and duplicate sheet

If you need to select specific rows or groups of columns to combine, merge or separate, you can use cut, copy, and paste to quickly modify the CSV. Row Zero can cut, copy, and paste millions of rows at once.
To use cut, copy, or paste, select your data, right click and select the option from the context menu. You can also use keyboard shortcuts CTRL + X for cut, CTRL + C for copy, and CTRL + V for paste.
Duplicate sheet creates a copy of your current sheet in a new sheet. To duplicate a sheet, right click on the sheets tab on the bottom of the workbook and select Duplicate.

VLOOKUP or XLOOKUP

XLOOKUP and VLOOKUP functions let you combine data from multiple CSV files based on a unique identifier in one of the columns. The functions can be used to add or combine columns from separate datasets.
To combine two large CSVs using VLOOKUP or XLOOKUP, import both CSVs to their own sheets in a Row Zero workbook. Once imported it is best to use XLOOKUP, the successor to VLOOKUP, but Row Zero supports both. Here's how to XLOOKUP across multiple CSVs:
- Identify which column the XLOOKUP will go and begin typing your function using the normal XLOOKUP syntax (key, lookup range, return range).
- First type the key which is the value to search for
- Next type the lookup range to look for the value
- Then type the return range where you want to return the corresponding value from
- Once the formula executes in the first cell, double click on the lower right-hand corner of that cell and it will fill down the entire column instantly.
See the screenshot below for an XLOOKUP example from our ZIP Code Lookup tool.

Automatically merge S3 files and .zip files

If you have multiple matching CSV files in one folder in S3, Row Zero can combine and merge the S3 files into one sheet. If you have multiple CSV files compressed in a .zip file, Row Zero will similarly unzip, combine and merge the CSV files. Row Zero will also automatically unzip and open CSV.gz files. So if you need to edit a CSV.gz file or open and edit a ZIP file, Row Zero is your best choice and can handle the larger uncompressed CSV files.

Format CSV files

format CSV file online Row Zero makes it easy to format CSV files online. Formatting a CSV file can make it easier to understand and work with. It can also improve the presentation of the file and may also be necessary if you want to import the CSV to your database or data warehouse. For example, if you want to import a CSV to postgres, your CSV format and column headers must match the corresponding table in Postgres. As an online CSV formatter, Row Zero makes it easy to add a header, change column names, add and delete columns or modify CSV data. You can also apply standard formats like bold, italics, number formatting, date formatting, fonts, colors, etc. However, keep in mind that CSV files do not keep formatting that is stylistic (e.g. bold or currency), so this formatting will be lost if you download the workbook as a CSV.

Analyze a CSV file

Row Zero lets you analyze CSV files across millions of rows. Easily visualize CSV data by creating pivot tables, charts, and graphs from CSV files. You can also leverage built-in functions like SUMIFS, AVERAGEIFS, MAXIF, etc. and the native Python spreadsheet window to create custom spreadsheet functions and import python packages like pandas to analyze big CSV files.

Graph CSV data

It's easy to create a graph from CSV files or convert CSV to charts online with Row Zero. To graph a dataset in Row Zero, select the data range with CTRL + A or by selecting the columns to be graphed and hit the graph button in the top menu bar (or go to Insert, Chart). Once the graph has been created, use the graphing menu to add or edit series, update formatting, or plot multiple axes. For more details on graphing capabilities in Row Zero see the graphing documentation here. create chart from CSV file online

Create pivot tables

Pivot tables allow you to summarize and consolidate data, making it easier to grasp overall trends and patterns based on various categories and groupings within a big data set. Row Zero is powerful enough to create pivot tables from big CSV files or create multiple big pivot tables in the same sheet. To pivot a big CSV in Row Zero, select the range with CTRL + A or CTRL + SHIFT and the arrow keys. Once the desired range is selected, right-click and select 'Pivot' from the context menu (or go to Insert, Pivot Table). Follow the steps to select the desired location and select values. For more detailed instructions view the Row Zero pivot documentation here. create pivot table from CSV file online

Export a big CSV

After the big CSV has been merged, combined, de-duped, cleaned, or enriched, export your new CSV from Row Zero by going to File > Download as CSV and export the CSV to your computer. This is an easy way to create a CSV file online. Note this feature is only available on paid plans. create csv online

What are CSVs?

CSV stands for comma separated values. CSV files contain data separated by commas as shown in the example below.

"ID","studyName","Sample Number","Species","Region","Island","Stage","Individual ID","Clutch Completion","Date Egg","Culmen Length (mm)","Culmen Depth (mm)","Flipper Length (mm)","Body Mass (g)","Sex","Delta 15 N (o/oo)","Delta 13 C (o/oo)","Comments"
"1","PAL0708",1,"Adelie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)","Anvers","Torgersen","Adult, 1 Egg Stage","N1A1","Yes",2007-11-11,39.1,18.7,181,3750,"MALE",NA,NA,"Not enough blood for isotopes."
"2","PAL0708",2,"Adelie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)","Anvers","Torgersen","Adult, 1 Egg Stage","N1A2","Yes",2007-11-11,39.5,17.4,186,3800,"FEMALE",8.94956,-24.69454,NA
"3","PAL0708",3,"Adelie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)","Anvers","Torgersen","Adult, 1 Egg Stage","N2A1","Yes",2007-11-16,40.3,18,195,3250,"FEMALE",8.36821,-25.33302,NA
"4","PAL0708",4,"Adelie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)","Anvers","Torgersen","Adult, 1 Egg Stage","N2A2","Yes",2007-11-16,NA,NA,NA,NA,NA,NA,NA,"Adult not sampled."
"5","PAL0708",5,"Adelie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)","Anvers","Torgersen","Adult, 1 Egg Stage","N3A1","Yes",2007-11-16,36.7,19.3,193,3450,"FEMALE",8.76651,-25.32426,NA

CSVs are common file formats because the simple schema makes them easy to process and they can be opened by a large number of software products. The simplicity of the file format makes CSVs an attractive choice for storing any datasets but particularly large datasets. CSVs are a common file format for exports from ERPs, CRMs, databases, and business intelligence tools. The challenge with CSVs is when an application exports a giant CSV, greater than 1 million rows, there are very few applications that can open and edit very big CSV files.

What tools are best for editing big CSVs?

Row Zero is a next-gen spreadsheet built for big data that lets you open and edit big CSV files online.

Beyond Row Zero, there are not many tools that make it easy to edit big CSV files. Spreadsheets like Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel make it very easy to edit CSV files but those applications were not designed to handle large data sets, which have now become common in every job function. If you try to import a giant CSV into Google Sheets, you'll get an error message like the one below. You can read more about the Google Sheets row limit here. CSV too big for Google Sheets row limit

Excel has a max row limit of 1,048,576 rows. If you try to import a big CSV into Excel that is more than 1 million rows, Excel will truncate all the rows beyond this limit. You can import larger CSVs into Excel using data model, power query, or power pivot but those features are complicated and require some additional technical skills. Once CSVs get too big for legacy spreadsheets, there aren't many other applications that make it easy to interact with and modify big CSV files. Data analysts, business intelligence professionals, and software engineers are likely to use SQL or Python programming languages in tools like Jupyter Notebook or SQL databases. Those solutions require programming knowledge. Other alternatives are traditional BI tools, like Tableau, PowerBI, and Looker, which were designed for big data sets but are better suited for pivot table style aggregations, not transformations or editing CSV data.

What are common use cases for editing big CSVs?

Across business functions, there are a wide range of reasons in which you may need to edit or transform CSV files. Often exports from one application need to be explored, cleaned or transformed, and imported to other platforms. Some common use cases are:

Marketing: cleaning contact lists from CRMs and CSV exports from Salesforce and Hubspot
Finance: opening general ledger transaction data or CSV exports from Quickbooks, Stripe, Netsuite and other ERPs
Healthcare: reviewing and analyzing a list of insurance claims.
Operations: combining logistics data from a 3PL with ecommerce data
Engineering: Searching for anomalies within production data

Conclusion

Exploring and editing large CSV files can be a complex task if you don't have the right tool. While CSVs are common and simple file formats, challenges arise when trying to open and edit giant CSV files. Row Zero provides a seamless solution, making it easy to open and edit big CSV files in a powerful online spreadsheet that works like Excel and Google Sheets but can handle much bigger data. Simply upload your CSV file to edit, filter, sort, pivot, chart, and analyze CSV data in a big data spreadsheet. Row Zero is more than just a powerful CSV editor. You can also work with a wide range of file formats including TSV, XLSX, TXT, parquet, JSONL, gz, .zip, etc and can also connect directly to your data source to automatically import data rather than exporting and importing CSV files. You can try Row Zero for free today.

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