Excel to CSV moves values, not the whole workbook
CSV is what databases, mail-merge tools, and many government templates import.
The first sheet is written as UTF-8 CSV. Formulas are saved as their values.
Dates and extra sheets after Excel to CSV
Only one sheet is exported. Dates and leading zeros need a look in a text editor before you import, because Excel may reformat them on open.
A related step, if you still need one, is CSV to Excel.
Excel to CSV without the extra promises
Excel to CSV sits on this site because XLSX and CSV are not interchangeable, even when they look similar in a file list. CSV is what databases, mail-merge tools, and many government templates import. Spreadsheets, charts, and CSV exports start here for most offices in 2026. Mail merges, databases, and Google Sheets imports are typical CSV jobs.
The first sheet is written as UTF-8 CSV. Formulas are saved as their values.
Read this about XLSX before you upload
XLSX is the current Excel workbook. It can hold more than one sheet, plus formulas and formatting. A conversion aimed at CSV or JSON flattens that richness. Charts and macros are not the point.
Keep the workbook you calculated in. An export is a copy of values.
Read this about CSV before you send the download
The download has to be CSV, because that is the format the next step named. Mail merges, databases, and Google Sheets imports are typical CSV jobs. Almost every data tool can read a simple CSV.
Open the file in a text editor if Excel guesses types and strips leading zeros.
Keep, check, then delete
People lose time when they convert before they know which rule failed. Size, pixel dimensions, codec, font encoding, and layout are different rules. Excel to CSV only addresses the XLSX to CSV step. CSV is what databases, mail-merge tools, and many government templates import. The first sheet is written as UTF-8 CSV. Formulas are saved as their values. Only one sheet is exported. Dates and leading zeros need a look in a text editor before you import, because Excel may reformat them on open. The file stays in your browser and is not uploaded. The limit is 100 MB. Keep the original until the download has been opened in the program that will use it. Do the test with a short or simple file first when the real file is large. A one-page PDF, a single photo, or a one-minute clip will show you whether the output is the kind of file you needed. After that test looks right, run the real file once. Keep both the XLSX original and the CSV download until the receiving person or the upload form accepts it. Spreadsheets break at quiet places: a second sheet, a date that changed, a leading zero that vanished, a comma inside a name. After Excel to CSV, open the result in a text editor as well as Excel. Excel guesses types and hides the delimiter. The workbook you calculated in is still the master.
Here is the decision for Excel to CSV. You start with XLSX and you stop when a real program accepts CSV. Values, dates, and several sheets can travel when the tool writes a real workbook. A comma inside a name splits one column into two unless the field is quoted. Extra sheets disappear. If those two sentences describe a tradeoff you do not want, do not convert. Renaming the extension by hand will not do this job. Running the tool twice on its own output will not do it either.
Only one sheet is exported. Dates and leading zeros need a look in a text editor before you import, because Excel may reformat them on open.
A related step, if you still need one, is CSV to Excel.
Other jobs start from the homepage, where each tool is named for the conversion it actually does.