Starlight Tools

CSV Viewer — Sort, Filter & Search

Upload a CSV to view it as an interactive table. Private by design—everything runs locally in your browser.

Upload & Controls

Drag & drop your CSV file here, or click to upload:

Text looks wrong? Choose an encoding below, then reload the file.

  • Runs locally in your browser
  • No account required
  • File is not uploaded
  • Works offline after page load
  • Compatible with Excel and Google Sheets CSV exports

Table

No data yet. Upload, paste, or load the sample CSV to begin.

Swipe sideways to see all columns. Row numbers and the first column stay visible while you scroll.

Tips: Click a column header to sort. Resize columns from the right edge of each header, move columns with the arrow buttons, and turn on edit mode to change cells or delete rows and columns.

View and explore CSV files without the hassle

CSV files are a common way to store tabular data, but opening them is not always convenient. You might not have spreadsheet software handy, or you may just want a quick preview before importing. This CSV viewer lets you open, sort, search, and filter data right in your browser, so you can understand a file quickly and move on with confidence. It is fast, straightforward, and built for everyday tasks.

What a CSV file is, in simple terms

CSV stands for Comma-Separated Values. Think of it as a plain-text table where each row is a line and each column is separated by a delimiter (usually a comma). CSVs are used everywhere because they are lightweight and compatible with tools like Excel, Google Sheets, databases, and data pipelines. This tool reads your file and displays it as a clean, interactive table so you can see exactly what each column contains.

How to use the CSV viewer step by step

  1. Open a CSV by choosing a file, dragging it into the drop zone, pasting text, or loading the sample data.
  2. Leave delimiter detection on automatic, or choose comma, semicolon, tab, pipe, colon, or a custom delimiter.
  3. If characters look wrong, switch the encoding before loading the file again.
  4. Use global search or column filters to narrow the rows shown in the table.
  5. Click a column header to sort, then clear the sort state if you want the original order back.
  6. Download the filtered table if you want a smaller CSV to share or import.

Why this tool is useful

  • Quick inspection: Check the structure of a CSV before importing it into a database or app.
  • Data cleanup: Filter out irrelevant rows and export a clean subset.
  • Faster analysis: Sort by a column to spot outliers, duplicates, or missing values.
  • Privacy-first: Everything runs in your browser, so your file stays on your device.

Real-world examples

Teams use this CSV table viewer to preview export files from CRMs, payment platforms, or analytics tools. Researchers quickly scan survey results without loading a large spreadsheet. Developers and data analysts validate logs and datasets before pushing them into ETL workflows. Small businesses sort inventory lists, product catalogs, or order histories to spot issues before reporting. Students and teachers use it to check class lists, grades, or study data without extra software.

Whether you call it a CSV viewer, CSV file reader, or online CSV table tool, the goal is the same: make it easy to view and work with structured data, quickly and securely.

CSV troubleshooting guide

Columns look broken

Try a different delimiter. Spreadsheet exports from many regions use semicolons, while logs and database exports may use tabs or pipes.

Quoted commas split cells

CSV values that contain commas should be wrapped in quotes. This viewer handles quoted commas, escaped quotes, and quoted newlines when the file is well formed.

Text has strange characters

Reload the file with another encoding such as Windows-1252, ISO-8859-1, or UTF-16. Excel exports from older systems often need this adjustment.

The first header has a hidden mark

UTF-8 BOM characters can appear before the first column name. The viewer strips the BOM from the first cell during import.

Blank rows appear

Trailing empty rows are removed automatically. Blank rows inside the file are preserved so you can decide whether to filter or edit them out.

Excel will not show every row

Modern Excel worksheets stop at 1,048,576 rows. For larger CSVs, use preview limits here or export filtered subsets before opening them in a spreadsheet.

CSV viewer FAQ

Does this CSV viewer upload my data?

No. Files, pasted text, filtering, sorting, editing, and exporting all run in your browser.

Can I paste CSV text instead of uploading a file?

Yes. Paste CSV text into the textarea and choose View pasted CSV, or load the sample data to try the table immediately.

Which delimiters are supported?

The viewer supports automatic detection plus comma, semicolon, tab, pipe, colon, and custom delimiters.

What file size can I open?

The browser and your device memory set the practical limit. The page uses a worker for parsing and paginates table rendering to avoid placing every row in the DOM at once.

Does it work with Excel and Google Sheets?

Yes. It is designed for common CSV exports from Excel, Google Sheets, databases, CRMs, analytics tools, and similar apps.

Can I fix encoding problems?

Use the encoding selector before loading a file. UTF-8, UTF-8 with BOM, ISO-8859-1, Windows-1252, and UTF-16 are available where the browser supports them.

Can I download filtered results?

Yes. The download button exports the current filtered and sorted table, including edits made in edit mode.

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