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Spreadsheet converter

Convert an Excel workbook to CSV, or a CSV into an Excel workbook.

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About this tool

Turn an .xlsx workbook into CSV, one sheet at a time, or turn a CSV into a workbook. Leading zeros in reference numbers survive the round trip instead of becoming ordinary numbers, formulas are converted using the value Excel last saved rather than being copied across as live formulas, and cells that a spreadsheet would execute on opening are neutralised. Files up to 2 MB, 10,000 rows and 100 columns.

Helpful answers

Using this tool

Will my account numbers keep their leading zeros?

Yes, by default. "00742" written into a workbook is stored as text with an explicit text format, so it opens as 00742 rather than as 742. Digit strings of sixteen or more characters are treated the same way, because a spreadsheet cannot hold them exactly as numbers.

What happens to formulas?

The value the workbook last saved for that cell is used. Nothing is recalculated and the formula text is never written into the CSV — a converter that copied "=SUM(A1:A9)" across would hand a live formula to whatever opened the file next. If a formula cell has no saved result, it converts to empty and the tool says how many did.

Why does a cell come out with an apostrophe in front of it?

Because it began with =, +, @ or a tab, which spreadsheets treat as the start of a formula rather than as text. The apostrophe marks it as text and is not displayed by Excel or LibreOffice. Ordinary negative numbers are left alone. You can turn the guard off if the file is going somewhere that does not evaluate cells.

Can it open .xls, .xlsm or .ods files?

No. It reads .xlsx and CSV. Macro-enabled workbooks are refused outright — including files renamed to .xlsx, which are detected by their contents — because opening a file that carries embedded code is not something this tool will do.

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