Blog
Plain answers for people whose CSV files are too big for Excel, or whose data Excel keeps changing.
- CSV import limits for Salesforce, HubSpot, NetSuite and Shopify, and how to split a file to fit
Row and size limits for CSV imports into Salesforce, HubSpot, NetSuite, Shopify and Google Sheets, checked November 2026, and how to split a big CSV to fit.
- File too big for ChatGPT? Cut your CSV down to the rows you need first
ChatGPT and other AI assistants have upload limits that big CSV files blow past. Filter the file to the rows you need first, then hand the AI a small file.
- Your test data isn't lost, it's just bigger than Excel: opening huge logger and sensor CSVs
A data logger or test rig wrote a CSV too big for Excel? Open every row, find the test window you need and export it to Excel, without rerunning the test.
- Excel keeps changing your CSV: zeros, long numbers, dates and strange characters
Why Excel drops leading zeros, turns long numbers into 1.23E+15, changes dates and garbles characters when it opens a CSV, and how to open the file unchanged.
- Every Excel limit that breaks a big file (and what to do about each)
Excel stops at 1,048,576 rows, 16,384 columns, 15 digits and 10,000 filter items. What each limit looks like when you hit it, and how to work past it.
- How long does it take to open a 1, 5 or 20 GB CSV? We timed it
Real timings on an 8 GB 2020 MacBook Air: opening, searching, filtering and exporting 1, 5 and 20 GB CSV files, and what other tools can do at those sizes.
- Keep only the columns you need from a huge CSV, without opening it in Excel
A CSV with 228 columns when you need 4? Pick the columns in your browser and export just those, to CSV or Excel, with every value kept exactly as written.
- Look before you load: check a huge vendor CSV before you write the pipeline
A vendor sent a 75 GB CSV dump. Check its delimiter, encoding, header, row count, columns and dirty values in minutes, before you spend days loading it.
- The same 2 GB export every month: a 5-minute routine for finance teams
A monthly ERP or ledger export too big for Excel? A repeatable routine: open it, check it, filter to what you report on and export Excel-sized files in minutes.
- Sometimes you just need to see it: searching every row of a multi-GB CSV export
Auditing a ledger, debugging an import or checking one record in a 20 GB CSV? Search every row and see the matches in seconds, without Excel's row limit.
- Skip Power Query: get the rows you need from a huge CSV into Excel
Power Query and the Data Model are the usual answer for CSVs over 1 million rows. Where they break, and a 3-step way to filter a huge CSV into Excel.
- The big VLOOKUP: find a list of IDs in a CSV with millions of rows
Need the rows for 400 IDs from a CSV too big for Excel? Paste the list into one filter and export the matching rows, with no VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP or Power Query.
