How to Export Excel to CSV - 4 Methods

An Excel CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file is a simple and widely used file format that stores tabular data in plain text, where each row represents a record, and each column is separated by a comma. CSV files are easily readable and can be opened by various applications including Excel.

This is an overview:

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Download the Excel files.

Excel CSV.xlsm

Excel CSV.csv

Excel CSV UTF.csv

CSV File Formats Supported in Excel

The names, extensions, and details of the CSV file formats supported in Excel are shown below.

Name	Extension	Details
CSV (Comma delimited)	.csv	Enables the usage of a workbook by saving it as a comma-delimited text file. Doesn’t allow special characters.
CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited)	.csv	Is the same as CSV (Comma delimited) but allows special characters. Available in Excel 2016 and later versions.
CSV (Macintosh)	.csv	Is the same as CSV (Comma delimited) but works on the Macintosh operating system.
CSV (MS-DOS)	.csv	Is the same as CSV (Comma delimited) but works on the MS-DOS operating system.

How to Export an Excel File to a CSV File

Method 1 – Exporting the Active Sheet Only Using the Save As Command

Go to the File tab.

Select This PC in Save As.
Name the file. Here, “Excel CSV”.
Choose CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv) as the file type and click Save.

A warning will be displayed: only this sheet will be saved in CSV format.
Click OK.

The Excel sheet will be saved as a CSV formatted file.

There were Japanese Kanji characters in column C of the original Excel file. Here, question marks are displayed instead.

Method 2 – Exporting in CSV UTF-8 Format to Preserve Special Characters

Convert the Excel file to CSV UTF-8 format to preserve special characters.

Open the File tab.

In Save As, choose This PC.
Name the file. Here, “Excel CSV UTF”.
Select CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv) and click Save.

A warning will be displayed: only this sheet will be saved in this format.
Click OK.

The Japanese Kanji characters in column C are visible.

Method 3 – Exporting Multiple Sheets Using VBA

To convert multiple sheets from the same Excel file into CSV format, use a VBA Macro.

Go to Developer > Visual Basic.
Or press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic window.

Select Module in Insert to open a new Module.

Enter the following code in the Module and click Run or press F5.

Sub Exporting_Multiple_Sheets()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
path = ActiveWorkbook.path & "\" & _
Left(ActiveWorkbook.Name, InStr(ActiveWorkbook.Name, ".") - 1)
For Each ws In Worksheets
ws.Copy
ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:=path _
& "_" & ws.Name & ".csv", FileFormat:=xlCSVUTF8, _
CreateBackup:=False
ActiveWorkbook.Close False
Next
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

This VBA code automates the process of exporting each worksheet in the active workbook to separate CSV files with names based on the original workbook’s name and the individual worksheet names.

The CSV files will be placed in the original location of the excel file.
Each sheet in the Excel file will be converted to a separate CSV file.

Method 4 – Saving in XLS Format and Then Converting to CSV Format

To save your Excel file in XLS format, open the File tab.

Select This PC in Save As.
Name the file. Here, “Excel CSV”.
To save the file in XLS format, select Excel 97-2003 Workbook (*.xls) and click Save.