HOW TO CONVERT EXCEL FILE TO CSV FILE FOR FREE

In this post, we are going to show you Two totally free ways of converting your Excel spreadsheets to CSV format.

What does CSV Mean?

A CSV is a comma-separated values file, which allows data to be saved in a tabular format. CSVs look like a garden-variety spreadsheet but with a .csv extension.

CSV files can be used with most any spreadsheet program, such as Microsoft Excel or Google Spreadsheets. They differ from other spreadsheet file types because you can only have a single sheet in a file, they can not save cell, column, or row. Also, you cannot not save formulas in this format.

HOW TO CONVERT EXCEL TO CSV WITHOUT USING ONLINE TOOLS

One of the methods can be used without any using online tool while the other will use online tools that you can use for free to carry out the conversion. The free tools are easy to use as well.

So, let’s get to the gist of the first method. Please take note that we’ve used Microsoft Excel 2016 for this exercise but the same steps apply to other Microsoft Excel versions (even as far back as Microsoft Excel 2010)

STEP 1: OPEN the Excel spreadsheet you intend converting to CSV format. To illustrate, we have opened the Excel spreadsheet we intend converting as you can see in the picture below;

STEP 2: Once you have opened the spreadsheet, head to the menu bar and click FILE (you can see it in the picture above) and it will lead you to a drop down menu (please note that if you are using an older version of Excel, the drop down menu may look different).

CLICK SAVE AS on the drop down menu

STEP 3:

Once you click SAVE AS, you will have to choose where you want to save the document (whether on your computer or in an external device).

Once you choose where you want to save the document, a pop-up box will appear. You can see it in the picture below;

As you can see in the picture above, the pop-up box has two fields; FILE NAME AND SAVE AS TYPE. You can proceed to fill in the file name you want BUT for the save as type, you will have to change it from EXCEL WORKBOOK TO CSV (COMMA DELIMITED).

It is actually VERY SIMPLE to change the file type. Just simply click on the EXCEL WORKBOOK written in the “save as type” box or field in the picture above, and you should see an expanded list like this;