❓ You received an XLSX file but don't have Excel installed, or you don't want to upload sensitive data to a cloud service. This tutorial shows you how to open, edit, run formulas, and export XLSX or CSV files in under a minute, entirely in your browser.
What you need
- A CSV or XLSX file (or you can start from scratch)
- A web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge)
- No account, no Excel licence, no installation
Step-by-step guide
Open your spreadsheet
Open the Spreadsheet Editor and either drag-and-drop your CSV or XLSX file onto the grid, or click "Open file" in the toolbar to pick one. Multi-sheet XLSX workbooks are fully supported — every tab is preserved with its original name.
If you want to start from a blank workbook, just begin typing in any cell. The editor opens with an empty sheet by default.
Navigate and edit cells
Click any cell to select it. Type to overwrite, or press F2 (or Enter) to edit the existing content. Use the arrow keys to move around, Tab to advance to the next column, and Shift+Tab to go back. Hold Shift while clicking another cell to select a range.
To insert or delete rows and columns, right-click on a row or column header. To rename a sheet, double-click its tab at the bottom of the window. Add a new sheet with the "+" button next to the tab list.
Add formulas
Type "=" in any cell to start a formula. The editor supports the most common Excel functions:
- Aggregation: SUM, AVERAGE, MEDIAN, MIN, MAX, COUNT, STDEV.
- Logic: IF, IFS, SWITCH, AND, OR, NOT.
- Lookup: VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH.
- Text: UPPER, LOWER, LEFT, RIGHT, MID, REPLACE, TEXTJOIN, TEXT.
- Date: TODAY, NOW, DATE, WEEKDAY, EOMONTH.
- Multi-criteria: SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, AVERAGEIFS.
Cell references work the same as Excel: A1 for a cell, A1:A10 for a range, Sheet2!B5 for a cross-sheet reference. Circular references are detected and reported with a clear error message.
Format and sort
Select cells and use the toolbar to apply bold, italic, alignment, text colour, background colour, and number formats (currency, percentage, date, custom). The Format Cells dialog gives full control over font, borders and patterns, with a live preview.
To sort, select your data range, then click the AutoFilter icon in the header to add filter chevrons; click any chevron to sort ascending or descending and pick which rows to show. To freeze rows or columns so they stay visible while you scroll, use the Freeze panel option in the View menu.
Export your spreadsheet
Click "Export" in the toolbar and choose CSV or XLSX. CSV preserves the active sheet only as comma-separated values; XLSX preserves every sheet, formula, format and chart. The file is generated locally and downloaded immediately — your data never leaves the browser.
Want to chain into another tool? Once you save, the workflow bar at the bottom suggests next steps such as Chart Generator for visualising columns or CSV Viewer for a quick read-only check.
Privacy All parsing, formula evaluation and exporting happen in your browser. Your spreadsheet never leaves your device, which makes the editor safe for confidential payroll, financial or customer data.
Tips for better spreadsheets
- Name your sheets. Default names like "Sheet1" and "Sheet2" become impossible to follow on a 5-tab workbook. Rename early.
- Use absolute references. Lock a column or row with $ (e.g. $A$1) when you copy a formula to avoid accidental shifts.
- Sort before formulas, not after. Sorting after a formula like VLOOKUP can break the lookup if the helper column moves.
- Round display, not data. Use number formats (e.g. 1234.56 → 1,234.56) instead of ROUND() — you keep full precision while displaying clean numbers.
- Save frequently as XLSX. CSV loses formulas, formatting and multi-sheet structure. Use it only for plain data exchange.
Example: monthly expenses with VLOOKUP
Try pasting this sample data and adding a formula:
Date,Category,Amount
2026-04-02,Food,42.50
2026-04-03,Transport,15.00
2026-04-05,Food,28.30
2026-04-08,Utilities,89.20
2026-04-12,Transport,12.50
2026-04-15,Food,35.00
In a separate area, list categories with budget targets:
Category,Budget
Food,300
Transport,100
Utilities,150
Then use =VLOOKUP(B2, $E$2:$F$4, 2, FALSE) next to each row to pull the budget for that category. Add a SUMIFS formula at the bottom to compute the total spent per category, and you have a working budget tracker — no Excel required.