Use This App Instead of Excel to Directly Edit CSV Files

Credit: Screenshot by Justin Pot

CSV, or Comma Separated Values, are files used for all kinds of things, from managing large datasets to exporting data to move it between web services.

You might think CSV files are just spreadsheets, similar to Excel files, but it's a lot more interesting than that: Open any CSV file in a text document and you'll learn that the "comma separated" thing is literal. Really, these files are just text documents—every line break is a row in the table, and columns are the items in each row, all separated by commas.

There is nothing stopping you from editing the values right there in your text editor of choice, but doing so would be extremely annoying. And while you can import CSV files into Excel and work with them there, it can get confusing—you have to keep track of which Excel features work in CSV files, and which do not. That's why, if you have to work in a CSV file, it's best to have a dedicated tool.

ModernCSV, an indie app for Linux, Mac, and Windows computers, is the best tool I've come across for this purpose. If you work with CSV files frequently, or just need to edit one quickly, it's worth checking out.

This application is built specifically with CSV files in mind and makes working with them simple. For example: you can double-click the column number to re-order all items in the list based on that row. To test it, I downloaded a CSV breaking down all U.S. counties by population. The original file was organized by population; by double-clicking the state ID column I could quickly sort by state. After saving, the CSV itself was changed.

That's just one example. It also offers complete find-and-replace, which is perfect for cleaning up corrupted files. It supports filtering, and lets you edit multiple cells at once: just select all the cells you want to edit and start typing, everything highlighted will be affected.

There's even a command bar, triggered with the keyboard shortcut CLTR/CMD-L. This lets you quickly use any of the commands offered by the application without needing to learn the dedicated keyboard shortcut—just type what you want to do and hit enter.

The app also offers support for quick pivot tables, which helps provide greater insight into the data. Case in point: I was able to use my information about U.S. counties to extrapolate U.S. state populations.

There are more features worth digging into, but I recommend you check out the documentation if you want to learn more—there' a lot there.

Free or paid versions

ModernCSV offers a free version that includes many of the best features discussed above. There are two paid versions: Premium Personal for $39—adding features like filtering and date conversions—and Premium Business for $59, which offers pivot tables and other advanced reporting features.

I think the free version is worth having on hand for anyone who even occasionally needs to edit CSV files, while the paid versions are great if you're a power user.