FilesCalcs

Excel to CSV converter

Choose a sheet from your .xlsx file and download it as a CSV. Pick the delimiter, and add a UTF-8 BOM so £ signs and accented names survive being reopened in Excel.

On-device: your files never leave this device

Choose an Excel file (.xlsx)

or drop it anywhere on this page.

How to convert Excel to CSV

  1. Upload your .xlsx file.
  2. Choose the sheet you want to export.
  3. Pick a delimiter and tick UTF-8 with BOM if the file will be opened in Excel.
  4. Check the preview, then download the CSV.

Why £ turns into £, and how a BOM fixes it

A CSV is plain text, and the file itself does not say which character encoding it uses. Modern systems write UTF-8, where £ is stored as two bytes. When Excel on Windows opens a CSV without a hint, it often reads it using an older encoding instead, and those two bytes show up as "£". Names such as Zoë or José get mangled in the same way.

A byte order mark (BOM) is three invisible bytes at the very start of the file that tell Excel "this is UTF-8". With it, £ signs, accents and other symbols open correctly. Tick UTF-8 with BOM if a person will open the CSV in Excel. Leave it off if the file is going into a database, script or system that expects plain UTF-8, since a few older tools read the BOM as stray characters in the first column name.

What a CSV keeps and what it loses

CSV holds the values from one sheet, row by row. It does not keep:

  • Formulas (you get the last calculated result instead)
  • Formatting, colours, column widths and merged cells
  • Other sheets in the workbook, so export each one separately
  • Charts, images and comments

That is exactly why CSV is the format most accounting software, banks, email tools and online shops ask for when you import data: plain values and nothing else. Keep your .xlsx as the master copy and export a fresh CSV when you need one.

Questions people ask

Can I convert an old .xls file?

Not directly. Open it in Excel, LibreOffice or Google Sheets, save it as .xlsx, then convert that file here.

Should I use commas or semicolons?

Commas are standard in the UK and US. Use semicolons if the system you are importing into asks for them, which is common with European software.

Is my spreadsheet uploaded?

No. The workbook is read in your browser and the CSV is created on your device.

How do I export every sheet?

A CSV can only hold one sheet, so choose each sheet in turn and download a CSV for each.

What is UTF-8?

UTF-8 is the most widely used way of storing text as bytes. It can represent almost every character and symbol, including £, € and emoji.