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CSV Cleaner

Clean messy CSV files: trim spaces, remove invisible characters, empty rows and empty columns, fix line breaks in cells, change the separator.

Exports from websites, forms, CRMs and old systems are rarely tidy. Values have stray spaces, invisible characters copied from web pages break lookups, addresses contain line breaks that split rows in other programs, and empty rows and columns get in the way. The CSV Cleaner fixes all of this in one pass and writes the file back with consistent quoting and the separator you choose.

Every fix can be switched on or off, and a short report tells you exactly what changed — how many values were trimmed, how many contained invisible characters, how many empty rows and columns were removed. The cleaned CSV updates as you change the options; copy it or download it. Everything runs in your browser, so your data never leaves your computer.

How to use CSV Cleaner

  1. Open, drop or paste your CSV.
  2. Choose the fixes to apply (all are on by default except the Excel mark).
  3. Choose the separator for the cleaned file.
  4. Check the report and download or copy the clean CSV.

Features

  • Trims spaces around values and collapses double spaces and tabs.
  • Removes invisible characters: zero-width spaces, BOM, soft hyphens; turns non-breaking spaces into normal spaces.
  • Turns line breaks inside cells into spaces.
  • Removes empty rows and empty columns (keeps named columns).
  • Pads short rows so every row has the same number of columns.
  • Re-writes with standard quoting and any separator; reports every change.
  • Runs in your browser: no upload.

Before importing data

Clean a file before importing it into an email platform, a CRM, an online shop or a database: stray spaces and invisible characters are the most common reason imports reject rows or create duplicates, and line breaks inside cells can split a record across rows in less careful programs. After cleaning, open the result in the CSV Viewer to check it, or remove duplicates with the CSV Deduplicator.

What each fix does

Each option targets a common source of import errors and failed matches. Turn off anything you want to keep as it is.

FixBeforeAfter
Trim spaces“ Ann ”“Ann”
Collapse double spaces and tabs“Bob Smith”“Bob Smith”
Remove invisible characters“Pune” with a hidden zero-width space inside“Pune”
Line breaks in cells → spaces“12 High St” + new line + “London”“12 High St London”
Remove empty rowsRows with no valuesRemoved
Remove empty columnsColumns with no name and no valuesRemoved

Invisible characters

Text copied from websites, PDFs and word processors often carries characters you can't see: non-breaking spaces, zero-width spaces and joiners, soft hyphens and byte-order marks. They make two values that look identical — “Pune”, and “Pune” with a hidden character inside — different to a computer, so lookups, de-duplication and imports fail for no visible reason. The cleaner removes the zero-width characters, soft hyphens and marks, and turns non-breaking spaces into ordinary spaces.

Separators and quoting

The cleaned file is written in the standard CSV style (RFC 4180): values that contain the separator, quotes or line breaks are put in double quotes, and quotes inside values are doubled. Keep the original separator or switch to comma, semicolon, tab or pipe — useful when a European semicolon file must be imported by a system that expects commas. Add the UTF-8 mark if the file will be opened in Excel and contains accents. Rows with fewer values than the header are padded, so every row has the same number of columns.

Keeping your data safe

The cleaner never changes the content of a value beyond the fixes you choose — no case changes, no number reformatting, no guessing. A column that has a header but no values yet is kept, because it is probably meant to be filled in. Your CSV is processed only in your browser; nothing is uploaded or stored. To remove duplicate rows as well, run the result through the CSV Deduplicator; to view it as a table, use the CSV Viewer.

Frequently asked questions

How do I clean a CSV file?

Open or paste the CSV, keep the fixes you want switched on, and download the cleaned file.

Does it change my values?

Only by the fixes you choose: spaces, invisible characters, line breaks, empty rows and columns.

Can it change the separator?

Yes. Save with comma, semicolon, tab or pipe.

Is my data uploaded?

No. Cleaning happens in your browser.

Why don't my lookups match even though the values look the same?

Usually because of invisible characters or extra spaces. The cleaner removes both.

Will it remove duplicate rows?

No — use the CSV Deduplicator for that.

Does it keep columns that are empty but have a name?

Yes. Only columns with no name and no values are removed.

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