Opening and saving CSV files in Numbers

A CSV file or “Comma Separated Values” file is used to store information in plain text form. This format is widely used for moving or updating data between systems like ecommerce stores. Numbers allows you to easily view and edit CSV files as spreadsheets with info placed into columns, that’s often more convenient compared to working in a text editor.

Here’s how the same CSV file looks when viewed in a plain text editor and in Numbers:

Opening CSV files in Numbers

If you’re using a macOS device like MacBook, then you most certainly have Numbers as default pre-installed software for editing spreadsheets.

To open a CSV file:

1. Save the file to your device and navigate to it.
2. Right-click the file and select Open With → Numbers.
3. If you don’t like how the file looks after opening, click Adjust Settings:
   

   

4. In the Import Settings dialog, choose your delimiter, then click Update Table. By clicking Advanced Settings, you can also manage your file’s encoding (e.g., set it to UTF-8), etc.

That’s it! The file will be opened as a spreadsheet in Numbers. You can now edit it. To check what columns you can add there, see Format guidelines for the CSV file for reference.

Saving CSV files Numbers

After you’re done editing your import file in Numbers, you can export it as CSV.

To save a spreadsheet as CSV:

1. Open your spreadsheet in Numbers.
2. Click File → Export To → CSV:
   

   

3. In the Advanced Options section, select UTF-8 for text encoding and click Next…
4. Enter the file name and select the location where you want to save the file, then click Export.

That’s it! A file in CSV format with semicolon as a delimiter will be downloaded to your device, and you can upload it into your store to update store data.

CSV file delimiters

Values in CSV files are divided by delimiters (also called “separator characters”). For example, a delimiter can be a comma (,), a semicolon (;), a tab ( ), or a pipe (|).

Sometimes when you open CSVs in Numbers, you need to specify what delimiter is used in your file so that the file is processed correctly. After that, delimiters will be converted into table borders, and you can view the CSV file as a spreadsheet.

To see what delimiter is used in your CSV file, simply open the file in a plain text editor — right-click on the file and choose your editor (Notepad, TextEdit or alike).

Related articles

Opening and saving CSV files in Google Sheets →
Opening and saving CSV files in Excel →
Intro to catalog import →
Getting started with importing products →