up vote 5 down vote favorite
2
share [g+] share [fb]

I need a CSV editor that supports TABS for spacing, but would offer a simple editing interface, as close to Excel as possible. Anyone know of a free app that can offer this?

It must be a WINDOWS application.

link|improve this question
68% accept rate
Just for my sake, what exactly does "Tab Separated" mean in this context? It replaces the commas with tabs on loading? – Fake Name Mar 11 '10 at 7:55
I meant that it can support TABS instead of commas. Excel only supports commas. I need an app where you can specify what to save it as. – RD. Mar 11 '10 at 7:57
There's actually a specific name for what you want. It's called a "Tab Delimited File" or "Tab Separated Values" (Similar to "Comma Separated Values", or CSV file). The .tsv file extension is uncommon, though. – Fake Name Mar 11 '10 at 8:09
2  
Excel does support tabs for the delimiter AFAIK. – Ciaran May 26 '11 at 8:35
as does LibreOffice Calc – timberwo7ves Apr 6 at 17:27
feedback

closed as not constructive by slhck, Sathya♦ Apr 5 at 7:52

This question is not a good fit to our Q&A format. We expect answers to generally involve facts, references, or specific expertise; this question will likely solicit opinion, debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

6 Answers

up vote 6 down vote

OpenOffice Calc basically is Excel, and it supports importing and exporting CSV files. I don't know what you mean by "tabs for spacing", but hitting tab certainly takes you to the next cell in the row.

It's also a full office suite for free, too.

Edit: OK, with OpenOffice you can manually set the field delimiter on export, so you can use tabs as the delimiter, rather than commas. It also imports tab delimited files.

More specifically, you can import and export files with arbitrary delimitation (for example, you can set anything as the delimiter manually).

link|improve this answer
Calc (the last time I checked) has got a limit on the number of rows that it can actually deal with, 65 thousand. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org_Calc It's definitely what I would choose to recommend though, Excel just doesn't understand CSV files! – Richard Mar 11 '10 at 9:16
1  
@Richard: LibreOffice a fork of OpenOffice, allows up to a million rows. – Rich Homolka Aug 8 '11 at 14:46
1  
@Rich Homolka - I don't think LibreOffice is a fork insomuch as Oracle kind of murdered OpenOffice, and all the contributors left for LibreOffice. – Fake Name Aug 8 '11 at 23:53
feedback
up vote 5 down vote

CSVed really cool free csv editor.

link|improve this answer
Interesting... :) – bubu May 26 '11 at 11:48
The only problem is that it only supports unicode in a very old and limited version. – t.mikael.d May 6 at 10:49
feedback
up vote 1 down vote

The SharpTools spreadsheet is simpler and smaller that OpenOffice, and saves in CSV format, though it's actually tab-separated.

link|improve this answer
I want it tab seperated! :-) – RD. Mar 11 '10 at 7:49
It must be a WINDOWS application! :-/ – RD. Mar 11 '10 at 7:52
Java is a windows application. – Fake Name Mar 11 '10 at 8:13
I didnt see that. My bad. But I want something that does not require java. I'm currently trying CSVed – RD. Mar 11 '10 at 8:14
feedback
up vote 1 down vote

The spreadsheet editor in Google Docs is free can import CSV files. I'm pretty sure they can be tab delimited as well.

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 1 down vote

Check out Tabular Data Editor

link|improve this answer
Quite nice and free, but does not support unicode. – t.mikael.d May 6 at 10:52
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

Two additional suggestions:

  • CSVEasy, which is not free (£2.99) but feels like solid and tidy software. It's .NET based.
  • CSVEdit, a free Eclipse plugin. Might suit your workflow if you are an Eclipse fanboy. To set it to support TAB-separated files, copy a TAB character, and paste it in CSVEdit's preferences (should display as white space)
link|improve this answer
feedback

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.