About the Handiwork CSV Viewer & Analyzer
Use this online CSV Viewer and reader to open delimited text files locally and turn them into a searchable, sortable table. It detects common separators, decodes several text encodings, identifies uneven rows, infers basic column types, counts empty and unique values, and calculates summaries for consistently numeric columns without uploading the file.
How to use the Handiwork CSV Viewer & Analyzer
- Choose or drop a CSV, TSV, or TXT file up to 25 MB.
- Confirm the detected delimiter, text encoding, and whether the first row contains column names.
- Search analyzed rows, sort by a column, choose a page size, and export the current filtered and sorted view as CSV.
- Review the column analysis for inferred types, missing values, unique values, and numeric minimum, maximum, and average.
Read and analyze CSV files online
Choose a CSV, TSV, or delimited text file to inspect it as a data table in your browser. Search across analyzed rows, sort any column, review inferred column statistics, and export the filtered and sorted result when you need a cleaned working copy.
Quoted fields and delimiter detection
The parser recognizes double-quoted fields, escaped double quotes, and line breaks inside quoted fields. Automatic detection compares comma, tab, semicolon, and pipe separators outside quoted text, then chooses the candidate that appears most consistently across the first records. You can override the result at any time.
What the column analysis measures
Each analyzed column reports non-empty, empty, and distinct non-empty value counts. Values are classified as numbers, booleans, ISO-style dates, text, mixed, or empty. Minimum, maximum, and average appear only when every non-empty value in that column passes the viewer’s strict numeric check.
Handling different text encodings
CSV does not carry a universal encoding declaration inside the file. UTF-8 is the default, with optional Windows-1252, ISO-8859-1, and UTF-16 little-endian decoding for files exported by older systems. If characters look incorrect, choose another encoding and the browser will decode the original file bytes again.
Bounded analysis for browser stability
The tool accepts files up to 25 MB and analyzes at most 25,000 data rows and 100 columns. It still scans the file to report total record and column counts, then identifies content beyond the analysis window. Choose 50, 100, 250, or 500 rows per page so the browser does not create the full table at once.
Continue this workflow
Use the adjacent tool when the next step calls for a different input, output, or method.
Assumptions and limitations
- Automatic delimiter detection considers comma, tab, semicolon, and pipe only; choose the separator manually if detection is wrong.
- Type inference is descriptive rather than schema validation. Identifiers, localized dates, currency strings, and numbers containing grouping separators may be classified as text.
- Only the first 25,000 data rows and 100 columns are searchable, sortable, exportable, and included in column statistics.
- The parser uses double quotes as the field qualifier and does not support configurable escape characters or multi-character delimiters.
- Changing the displayed encoding cannot repair bytes that were already corrupted before the file was created.
Sources and standards
These authoritative references were used to verify the method and guidance on this page.
Frequently asked questions
Does this online CSV viewer upload my file?
No. The browser reads and analyzes the selected file locally. Handiwork does not send its contents to a server.
Can it open tab- or semicolon-separated files?
Yes. Automatic detection checks comma, tab, semicolon, and pipe separators, and the delimiter menu lets you override the detected choice.
Why are some rows marked inconsistent?
An inconsistent row has a different number of fields from the header row, or from the first data row when headers are disabled. Quoting or delimiter problems are common causes.
How are column types inferred?
The analyzer checks every non-empty value in the analyzed range. A column receives one type only when those values consistently match numbers, true/false booleans, ISO-style dates, or text; otherwise it is marked Mixed.
Does the analyzer change my file?
No. Searching, sorting, encoding changes, analysis, and CSV export affect only an in-memory view. The source file is never modified.
What happens with a CSV containing more than 25,000 rows?
The tool reports the total record count but limits the searchable table, statistics, and exported view to the first 25,000 data rows. A notice shows how many rows were excluded.
What does Export current view include?
It exports all analyzed rows that match the current search in the current sort order, not only the visible page. The export uses the displayed headers and UTF-8 CSV encoding.