Scissor Office

Edit CSV and TSV files without uploading them

CSV files often hold customer lists, exports and other private data. Spreadsheets in Scissor Office opens them in a grid inside your browser tab, so the data stays on your device while you sort, filter and fix it.

Open a CSV fileHow it works

How to edit a CSV file

  1. Open the app, press Open file and choose a .csv, .tsv or .tab file. The delimiter, the encoding and a decimal comma are found for you.
  2. Sort A to Z or Z to A, add a Filter to see only some rows, or use find and replace across the sheet.
  3. Add formulas in new columns if you need them. Their results are what a CSV saves.
  4. Press Save to write the CSV back with its own delimiter and line ends, or use Export and choose CSV of this sheet or Tab-separated values of this sheet.

What a CSV file can hold

What you useSaved as CSV or TSVSaved as XLSX or ODS
The shown text of each cellKeptKept
FormulasOnly their resultsKept
Cell formatting, column widths and row heightsLostKept
Other sheetsLost: only the current sheet is savedKept
Charts, merged cells, frozen panes and named rangesLostKept

How the file is read

The encoding comes from the file's byte order mark, otherwise UTF-8, otherwise Windows-1252. The delimiter (comma, semicolon, tab or pipe) is the one that splits the first rows most evenly. When the delimiter is a semicolon and the numbers use a comma for decimals, they are read as numbers.

Numbers, percentages, TRUE and FALSE and ISO dates become values you can calculate with. Numbers with leading zeros, such as postal codes, and digit strings longer than 15 digits stay text, so they are not changed. Text that starts with = stays text: formulas inside a CSV file are not run.

Writing it back

A CSV you opened is written back as it came: the same delimiter, decimal separator, line ends and byte order mark. A number written with trailing zeros, such as 2.50, keeps them. Before you save, Scissor Office lists what CSV cannot keep, for example other sheets or formulas, and offers to save in another format instead.

Limits to know

  • A CSV holds one sheet of text. Save as XLSX or ODS to keep formulas, formatting and several sheets.
  • A file without a byte order mark that is neither UTF-8 nor Windows-1252, for example Shift JIS, shows the wrong characters.
  • A sheet holds up to 1,048,576 rows; a file that is too large to open shows a message instead.

Want to see for yourself that nothing is uploaded? How it works shows how to check in your browser's Network tab.

Questions and answers

Does it open semicolon-separated CSV files?

Yes. Comma, semicolon, tab and pipe are detected, and a decimal comma is read when the delimiter is a semicolon.

Will it change leading zeros or long numbers?

No. Numbers with leading zeros and digit strings longer than 15 digits are kept as text.

What happens to formulas in a CSV?

Text starting with = in a CSV file stays text and is not run. Formulas you add are saved as their results.

How do I keep my formatting?

Save as… XLSX or ODS. CSV and TSV keep only the shown text of the current sheet.

How many rows can it hold?

A sheet holds up to 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns.

Is my data uploaded?

No. The file is read and written inside your browser tab, not on our servers.

Related guides

Open a CSV file

Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Pages, Numbers and Keynote are trademarks of Apple Inc. LibreOffice is a trademark of The Document Foundation. Google Docs is a trademark of Google LLC. Scissor Office is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to any of them. File formats are named only to say what Scissor Office can open and save.