How to open a CSV File download

Opening a CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file is simpler than you may think. In almost any text editor or spreadsheet program, just choose File > Open and select the CSV file.

For most users, it is best to use a spreadsheet program.

Spreadsheet programs display the data in a way that is easier to read and work with than a text editor. We recommend opening a CSV file in Microsoft Excel, or Google Sheets.

Open a CSV file Microsoft Excel

If you already have Microsoft Excel installed, double-click the CSV file to open it in Excel. After double-clicking the file, you may see a prompt asking which program you want to open it with. Select Microsoft Excel.

If you are already working in Microsoft Excel, you can choose File > Open and select the CSV file.
If you don't see the file you want to open, you may need to change the file type to be opened to "Text Files (*.prn, *.txt, *.csv)". Excel will display the data in a new workbook.

You can also import data from a CSV file into an existing worksheet.

On the Data tab, in the Get & Transform Data group, click From Text/CSV.
In the Import Data dialog box, double-click the CSV file you want to import, and click Import.

In the preview dialog box, you have a few options:

Select Load if you want to load the data directly to a new worksheet.
Select Load to if you want to load the data to a table or existing worksheet.
Select Transform Data if you want to load the data to Power Query, and edit it before bringing it to Excel.

Open a CSV file Google Sheets

First, open a new spreadsheet file in Google Sheets. The fastest way is to go to https://sheets.new.

Next, select File > Import.

Select the Upload tab, then either drag the CSV file onto the window, or select the CSV from your computer/laptop.

You can likely keep the default values on the Import file window, but scan over them just to make sure. Then select Import data.