Exporting Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet XLS to CSV

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Today we are going to learn how to export any Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet XLS to CSV file. You probably know that CSV file format is standardized and supported in almost any database or spreadsheet management software as an import and export option. CSV file can be used to transfer information between Microsoft Excel and any other software that supports CSV import and export.

CSV file format assumes plain text, normally in unicode UTF-8 or UTF-16 text encoding. Every line a CSV file represents one spreadsheet row or in case of a database table, one record (for instance a single customer). Every row or record is comprised of a set of fields (such as name, email address, phone number, etc.) separated by a comma(normally), semicolon or TAB.

If your spreadsheet or database table contained customers with Order, Name, Email, Product and Website columns, your CSV file would look as pictured below:
or

Pay attention to the second example. It contains quotes around the data fields. The quote character is called Qualifier or Text Delimiter. You can export your spreadsheet with every filed surrounded with quotes for better clarity in case if commas are used in the fields. Normally, either quotes or apostrophes should be used as qualifiers. Comma here is called Field Separation Character or Delimiter. It can be comma, semicolon or TAB. By default Microsoft Excel uses comma as delimiter and does not use any qualifiers.

Let's export a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet XLS to CSV file

I assume you have Microsoft Office Excel installed on your Mac. I also assume you already have a spreadsheet in XLS format you can use as a sample to perform the steps described below. Let's convert XLS to CSV.

1. Open Microsoft Office Excel on your Mac.

2. Use the File->Open menu item from the main menu of Microsoft Excel to open your XLS spreadsheet file.

3. Then invoke the File->Save As... command from the main menu to open the Save dialog box.

4. Wait until Save dialog box opens, then navigate to the Format combo box and click on it. Select the Comma Separated Values (.csv) item from the popup menu this combo box provides.

5. Specify output CSV file name and location using the Save As and Where boxes in the Save dialog box. Set the file extension for your CSV file to .CSV as shown on the picture below.

6. You can now press the Save button and a new CSV file will be created at the location you have specified.

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