How to Create a Comma Delimited File from Excel

While default files that you create in Microsoft Excel are going to be in the .xls or .xlsx file format, you have some other options. Use these steps to create a comma delimited file from Excel.

  1. Open Excel and create a new workbook.
  2. Enter the data into your cells.
  3. Click the File tab at the top-left of the window.
  4. Choose the Save As option.
  5. Click the file type dropdown at the top of the window.
  6. Select the CSV UTF-8 (comma delimited) option.
  7. Click the Save button.

The steps above were performed using the Microsoft Excel for Office 365 version of the application. You can also make comma delimited files in other versions of Excel as well, but the steps are slightly different due to the differences in creating and saving files in various versions of Excel.

Often you may encounter a situation where you need to upload data in a CSV file format. While there are a couple of different options for creating CSV files in Excel, you may need the comma delimited option.

Fortunately you are able to create a comma delimited file in Excel by choosing the appropriate file type when you save your file.

Note that CSV files created in Excel can only be one worksheet, and most of the formatting that you may want to use won’t apply to your data. Creating comma delimited files in Excel is best used when you simply need to enter information into cells so that they can be imported into another application, such as an online database.

Find out how to make gridlines darker in Excel if you are finding that you are having difficulty viewing the lines that separate the data in your cells.

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