HOW TO CREATE CSV FILE ~ MEGA COLLECTION 4

A comma-separated values (CSV) file is any file containing text that is separated with a comma, but can also be a file separated with any other character. To create a CSV is as simple as creating any text file and can be created in any text editor, however, is often created in a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel or Open Office Calc. Below are the steps on how to create a CSV file using a text editor such as Notepad, Microsoft Excel, Open Office Calc, and Google Docs.

*Notepad (or any text editor)Microsoft ExcelOpen Office CalcGoogle Docs***

Notepad (or any text editor)

To create a CSV file in a text editor open a new text editor program, such as Notepad. Once open write the text data you wish the file to contain and separate each field or column of data with a comma and each row with a new line.

Title1,Title2,Title3
one,two,three
example1,example2,example3

As an example, if you were to create a text file with the above data, and save it as a CSV file, each column is created by each comma and each row is created by each new line. Therefore, the above data if opened in a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel would create a table similar to the below example.

*Title1*	*Title2*	*Title3*
*one*	*two*	*three*
*example1*	*example2*	*example3*

If the data you're planning to use in your CSV file already has comma's, such as an address; it's easier to use a differentdelimiter to separate each of the values. For example, in the below CSV file we will be creating names and addresses for labels that will be printed and are separating each name and address label with a tilde character. Alternatively a better solution would be to have the address, city, and state in their own column.

Name
Street Address
City, State ZIP Code
~Mr John Smith
123 Fake address
Salt Lake City, Utah 89110
~Mrs Jane Doe
586 Another fake
Delta, Utah 84624
~Bill White
123 N Fake Street
St Anthony, Idaho 83445

Microsoft Excel

Open Microsoft Excel and the file you wish to save as a CSV file. For example, below is the data contained in our example Excel worksheet.

*Item*	*Cost*	*Sold*	*Profit*
*Keyboard*	*$10.00*	*$16.00*	*$6.00*
*Monitor*	*$80.00*	*$120.00*	*$40.00*
*Mouse*	*$5.00*	*$7.00*	*$2.00*
		*Total*	*$48.00*

Once open, click File, choose the Save As option, and as theSave as type: select the CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv)option. Once saved, if you were to open the CSV file in a text editor, such as Notepad, the CSV file should resemble the below example.

Item,Cost,Sold,Profit
Keyboard,$10.00,$16.00,$6.00
Monitor,$80.00,$120.00,$40.00
Mouse,$5.00,$7.00,$2.00
,,Total,$48.00

Open Office Calc

Open Open Office Calc and the file you wish to save as a CSV file. For example, below is the data contained in our example Calc worksheet.

*Item*	*Cost*	*Sold*	*Profit*
*Keyboard*	*$10.00*	*$16.00*	*$6.00*
*Monitor*	*$80.00*	*$120.00*	*$40.00*
*Mouse*	*$5.00*	*$7.00*	*$2.00*
		*Total*	*$48.00*

Once open, click File, choose the Save As option, and as theSave as type: select the Text CSV (.csv) (*.csv) option. Once saved, if you were to open the CSV file in a text editor such as Notepad the CSV file should resemble the below example.

Item,Cost,Sold,Profit
Keyboard,$10.00,$16.00,$6.00
Monitor,$80.00,$120.00,$40.00
Mouse,$5.00,$7.00,$2.00
,,Total,$48.00