Convert Google Sheets to CSV

What Is Convert Google Sheets to CSV?

When we convert Google Sheets to CSV and export them, we get plenty of benefits such as ease of data manipulation, compatibility with various applications, and easy data sharing. Whether it is the importing of data into another software or using specialized tools for analysis, CSV files offer a universal solution.

CSV files usually come from various sources. They can be imported from databases, online, or even other spreadsheets. CSV files are simple to manipulate and use. The ease of using CSV files across applications and manipulating them easily makes them useful for conversion from Google Sheets to CSV. Below is an example of a spreadsheet of data we convert to a CSV file.

What Are CSV Files?

Before we do a deep dive into the topic, let us look at what are CSV files. CSV files are easy to understand and small in size. They can’t save formulas or formatting as they are simple text files without any rows or columns, separated by commas.

Their simple nature makes it easy to use them for importing and exporting data to and from any database. They are easy to organize and are hence, used in banks, IT, and e-commerce organizations. It is easy to import, export, and convert CSV across applications. It can be easily used with Google Sheets.

Some examples in daily life include eCommerce advertising on Instagram. Companies use CSV files to export sales reports and financial data for analysis.

How To Convert (Export) Google Sheets to CSV?

Now, that we have an introduction to CSV and its structure, let us study the process of exporting Google Sheets as CSV. It is as follows:

Step 1: Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.

Select the table or range we wish to convert to CSV.

Step 2: Go to File -> Download -> Comma Separated Values (.csv).

Step 3: The file gets downloaded as a CSV file onto your device. Right-click on the downloaded file and open it with a text editor like Notepad.

You can observe the comma-separated file as shown below. Thus, it has exported Google Sheets to CSV.

How To Import Google Sheets to CSV?

Just like exporting was simple, importing a CSV file into Google Sheets is as easy as it gets! Here’s a detailed step-by-step explanation on how to start it:

Step 1: First open the spreadsheet and create a new sheet. Now, let us try to import the CSV file in the above example.

Step 2: Click on the File -> Import.

Step 3: Click on Upload. Follow it up with Browse.

Step 4: One can drag and drop their CSV file into the window or click on Select a file from your device and browse your device for it.

Step 5: Once you upload the file, a pop-up called Import File appears. You can select how you want to import the file data. The different options available below are shown.

Step 6: Here we choose Insert new sheet(s). Also, there are different separator types. We can choose the desired one or use Detect Automatically.

Click Import data, and we get the data in Google Sheets!

How to Check and Validate (Clean) the CSV Output?

Now we have the data in Google Sheets. If the dataset is large or from external sources, the next step is to check and clean the data. This involves several things like removing unwanted rows, trimming unnecessary spaces, concatenating certain strings, removing unnecessary rows and columns, etc.

Let us look at the things to check for so that your imported sheets are perfect.

Consistency in the data: Consistency in the data is very important when a CSV file is imported. Check for uniformity in data types, and date formats and ensure all rows are formatted uniformity.
Eliminate Rows and Columns not needed: Go through the imported data and identify unnecessary rows or columns. Delete them by right-clicking and make your data uniform.
Check for errors: The act of importing could lead to plenty of errors like spelling, misplaced data, or unnecessary special characters. Correct all this information to work on them seamlessly.

Besides, ensure that the data is consistent across the sheet, ensuring easy manipulation and fewer problems as you work on them.

To solve problems like extra spaces, we can use different functions. They help automate the calculations and clean up your data. Some of the commonly used functions include:

VALUE: This function converts any data that may have been converted to text in numerical form during import.
TRIM: This function removes extra spaces from strings, especially for data with leading or trailing spaces. For example, using TRIM(A1) cleans up the extra space in cell A1.
SPLIT: One uses it to split the text into separate cells depending on a delimiter. If you have a cell containing “Mathew, Dale”, you can use =SPLIT(A1, “,”) to separate “Mathew” and “Dale” into separate cells. This may be useful when you have data like first and last names within the same cell and wish to display them separately.

Examples

To gain an understanding on the practical use of how to convert Google sheets into CSV, let us look at the below example.

Example #1 – Exporting Data to CSV Files For Backup Purposes

In this example, to export data from Google Sheets to a CSV file to have a backup, we follow the below steps:

Step 1: Go to Google Sheets. Open the spreadsheet that we must back up. In case you want to back up only a specific range, select them, else the whole sheet will be exported.

Step 2: Click on the File menu and choose Download.

In the options that appear for downloads, select Comma-separated values (.csv).

Always remember that only the currently active sheet will be exported to the CSV file. The CSV file will automatically start downloading to your computer.

Check your Downloads folder to find the file. Here, we call it data.

Step 3: Open the file to check how it has been exported for backup as a CSV file.

Important Things to Note

Usually, our Google Sheets spreadsheet contains multiple sheets. If we wish to export them all, we can’t do it at once on Google Sheets. Hence, we will have to repeat the export process for each sheet individually, as Google Sheets does not support exporting multiple sheets directly.

We can edit CSV files on a text editor like Notepad. For detailed editing, Google Sheets offers better functionalities.

Always ensure that the system where you’re saving the CSV can handle the file size of large datasets.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Are formulas and formatting included when we convert Google Sheets into CSV files?

CSV files can hold the raw data from a spreadsheet. It does not include formatting and formulas or elements like graphs and charts. When you export Google Sheets into CSV, it converts all formulas present in the cells to their values, and the formatting is lost as well.

What is the simplest way to convert Google Sheets to CSV?

To convert a sheet into CSV, follow the steps below:

1. Open the required Google Sheets spreadsheet.
2. Go to the “File” menu and select the “Download” option.
3. From the choices, choose “Comma Separated Values (.csv).”
4. The CSV file will download to your computer.

Can I we exclude headers when exporting to CSV?

When you export data as CSV, it includes the headers in the CSV file by default. To exclude headers,

• You must manually delete the first row of the CSV file after downloading it.
• You can use custom Google Apps Script to export the data without headers.

What are some of the functions we use to clean up the data imported from CSV into Google Sheets?

Here are a few useful functions you can use to clean up the data:

SPLIT – It splits text into separate values based on a specified delimiter.
SUBSTITUTE – It replaces occurrences of a specified substring within a text.
TRIM – It removes leading and trailing spaces from text.
CLEAN – It removes non-printable characters from text.

Download Template

This article must help understand Convert Google Sheets to CSV with its formulas and examples. You can download the template here to use it instantly.

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