CSV Viewer: how it works
How it works
- Open a UTF-8 CSV, TSV or TXT file with the button above, or drop it into the workbench. The file passport beside the table names the detected delimiter, encoding and line endings, and the row count appears in the status bar.
- Scroll the table, type a row or cell such as 5000 or C12 in the name box to jump straight to it, or open a column's filter to search its values, pick the ones you want and sort the view. Clear the filter to see every row again.
- If the columns and values look right, you are done: close the tab, nothing was written. If something looks off, Doctor lists nine checks with counts and affected rows. You can edit or repair the file, then choose whether to save it. If the file picker gave this page a file handle and you allow writing, Save & verify writes back to that file. Without a handle, as with a dropped file, it starts a download instead. Denying write access cancels the save.
What stays exactly the same
Opening, scrolling, jumping, filtering and sorting do not rewrite the file. Fields are shown as text, so 001 does not become 1 and long IDs are not turned into scientific notation.
With no edits or repairs, Preserve output has the exact bytes you opened. Save & verify writes to the opened file only if this page received its file handle and you allow writing. Without a handle it starts a download; if you deny write access, it cancels without downloading. Your file is uploaded to the cellsmith.app server to be shown, held in memory and deleted after the retention period; a planned desktop app is meant to open files on your own computer.
Limits
Files are uploaded to the cellsmith.app server and held in memory, not kept only in your browser. The web version accepts UTF-8 text files up to 32 MiB each. Files expire 30 minutes after the last activity; opening another file or restarting the server also clears the current document and unsaved work.
Questions about this tool
How do I open a CSV file?
Choose Open file or drop the file onto the page. The web version reads UTF-8 CSV, TSV and TXT files up to the size limit shown on the page and displays them as a table.
Will viewing change my CSV?
No. Opening, scrolling, jumping, filtering and sorting do not rewrite the file. With no edits or repairs, Preserve output has the exact bytes you opened. If you edit or repair and then save, Save & verify writes back to a file opened with a file handle only if you allow writing. Without a handle, as with a dropped file, it starts a download. Denying write access cancels the save.
Can I find one row in a big CSV without scrolling?
Yes. Type a row number or a cell reference such as C12 in the name box to jump there, or filter a column to see only the rows with the values you pick.
Does the viewer show the delimiter and encoding?
Yes. The file passport lists the detected delimiter (comma, tab, semicolon and so on), encoding and line endings, so you can tell whether the file was read the way you expect.
Why does a CSV look wrong in Excel but right here?
Excel converts fields: 001 becomes 1, long numbers turn into scientific notation and some text becomes dates. This viewer shows every field as the text stored in the file.
Is my file uploaded?
In the web version, yes: the file is sent to the cellsmith.app server to build the table, kept in memory and deleted after the retention period. The planned desktop app is meant to work on files on your own computer; it is not released yet.