How to open tsv file in Excel

Step 1: Open Excel

Launch Microsoft Excel (any recent version works).

Step 2: Open TSV File

1. Click File → Open (or Ctrl+O)
2. In the file browser, change file type filter to “All Files (*.*)” or look for TSV/TXT files
3. Navigate to your TSV file location
4. Select the TSV file
5. Click Open

Step 3: Import Dialog Appears

Excel displays the “Text Import Wizard” dialog box automatically:

• Step 1 – File origin: Select “65001: UTF-8” for proper character encoding
• Step 2 – Delimiters: Uncheck “Tab” and check “Tab” only (remove comma and other delimiters)
• Step 3 – Data format: Review the preview to ensure columns align correctly

Step 4: Verify Delimiter Setting

1. In Step 2 of the wizard, locate the “Delimiters” section
2. Uncheck all options EXCEPT “Tab”
3. Watch the preview below—your data should separate into proper columns
4. If columns look misaligned, try checking “Space” in addition to Tab

The preview pane is crucial—it shows exactly how Excel will import your data.

Step 5: Complete Import

1. Click “Finish” to complete the import
2. Your TSV data now opens in Excel with proper column separation
3. Each tab-separated value becomes a different column

Pros: Fastest method, one-step process, no file conversion needed

Cons: Requires manual delimiter selection if wizard doesn’t default correctly

Step 1: Copy TSV File Path

1. Locate your TSV file
2. Right-click → Properties
3. Copy the file path (or note the filename and location)

Step 2: Launch Excel Data Import

1. Open Excel (can be blank workbook)
2. Go to Data tab
3. Click “From Text/CSV” (or “Get External Data” → “From Text” in older Excel)

Step 3: Select TSV File

1. Browse dialog opens
2. Navigate to your TSV file
3. Select it and click Open

Step 4: Configure Import Settings

The Text Import Wizard opens with three steps:

1. Step 1 – File Format:
   • Original data type: Select “Delimited”
   • File origin: Select “65001: UTF-8”
2. Step 2 – Delimiters:
   • Uncheck: Tab, Comma, Space, Semicolon
   • Check ONLY: Tab
   • Leave “Text Qualifier” as double quote (“)
3. Step 3 – Data Format:
   • Select columns and set data type if needed (Text, Date, Number)
   • Review preview to ensure correct alignment

Step 5: Complete and Verify

1. Click “Finish”
2. Data imports into Excel
3. Check that all columns align properly
4. Verify no data appears to be split incorrectly across columns

Pros: Step-by-step control, can adjust encoding and data types, preview before import

Cons: Multi-step process, requires more interaction than direct open

Step 1: Open Excel

Start with a blank Excel workbook.

Step 2: Access Data Menu

1. Click the Data tab in the ribbon
2. Look for “From Text/CSV” button (Excel 2016+) or “From Text” (older versions)
3. Click the button

Step 3: Select TSV File

1. File dialog opens
2. Navigate to your TSV file
3. Click Select

Step 4: Preview and Configure

Excel shows a preview window:

• At the bottom, verify “Delimiter” shows “Tab”
• If not, click “Edit” to change delimiter to Tab
• Review the data preview in the main window
• Columns should display in separate preview columns

Step 5: Load Data

1. Click “Load” button to import into current sheet
2. OR click dropdown arrow next to Load for options like “Load To” specific cell

Pros: Modern interface, clean preview display, simple to use

Cons: Only available in Excel 2016 and newer

Step 1: Open TSV in Text Editor

1. Right-click TSV file
2. Open With → Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac)
3. File opens showing data with tab spacing

Step 2: Select All Data

1. Press Ctrl+A to select all content
2. Press Ctrl+C to copy

Step 3: Paste into Excel

1. Open Excel
2. Click on cell A1
3. Press Ctrl+V to paste

Excel automatically recognizes tabs as column separators and distributes data across columns.

Step 4: Verify and Format

1. Check that data aligned properly into columns
2. If all data appears in column A, use Method 5 below
3. Format columns as needed (currency, dates, numbers)
4. Save file as Excel (.xlsx)

Pros: No dialogs, simple and direct, works for small files

Cons: Manual process, impractical for large files

Step 1: Select Column with Data

1. Click column header “A” to select entire column
2. Or select the range containing your TSV data

Step 2: Open Text to Columns

1. Go to Data tab
2. Click “Text to Columns”

Step 3: Configure Delimiters

The Convert Text to Columns Wizard opens:

1. Step 1: Select “Delimited” (not Fixed Width)
2. Step 2:
   • Uncheck all delimiters except “Tab”
   • Check “Tab” only
   • Preview shows how data will separate
3. Step 3: Leave as default (General column format)

Step 4: Complete Conversion

1. Click “Finish”
2. Excel separates data into proper columns
3. Each tab now creates a new column

Pros: Fixes improperly imported data, recovers from single-column paste

Cons: Extra step required, not needed if Method 1-3 work correctly

Issue 1: All Data in One Column

Problem: After opening TSV, all data appears in column A instead of being distributed across columns.

Cause: Tab delimiter not recognized during import, or Excel interpreted file as single-column data.

Solution:

1. Select column A (or your data column)
2. Data tab → “Text to Columns”
3. Step 2: Check “Tab” delimiter only
4. Click Finish

Issue 2: Missing Header Row

Problem: Column headers are missing or your data starts in row 2.

Solution:

1. Right-click row 1
2. Click “Insert” to add a blank row
3. In the new row 1, type column headers manually
4. Or, re-import with “First row as headers” option checked

Issue 3: Special Characters Display Incorrectly

Problem: Accented characters (é, ñ, ü) or other symbols show as garbled text.

Cause: Character encoding mismatch. TSV file uses UTF-8, but Excel imported as ANSI.

Solution:

1. File → Open
2. Select TSV file
3. In Text Import Wizard, Step 1, select “File origin: 65001: UTF-8”
4. Continue with import

Issue 4: Numbers with Leading Zeros Lose Zeros

Problem: “0123” becomes “123” or displays as scientific notation “1.23E+02”.

Cause: Excel formats numbers automatically, removing leading zeros.

Solution:

1. Before import: In Text Import Wizard Step 3, select the affected column
2. Change “Column data format” to “Text”
3. Click Finish

OR after import:

1. Select the column with numbers
2. Right-click → Format Cells
3. Select “Text” category
4. Click OK

Issue 5: Dates Not Recognized

Problem: Dates display as text (e.g., “2024-01-15”) instead of date format.

Solution:

1. Select the date column
2. Data tab → “Text to Columns”
3. Step 3: Select the date column
4. Change “Column data format” to “Date”
5. Select the correct date format (YMD, DMY, MDY)
6. Click Finish

Issue 6: Extra Spaces or Blank Columns

Problem: Blank columns appear between data, or extra spaces create empty columns.

Cause: Multiple tabs between values, or spaces with tabs.

Solution:

1. Select blank columns
2. Right-click → Delete to remove them
3. Or in Text to Columns, uncheck “Space” delimiter (keep only “Tab”)

Issue 7: File Size Too Large (More Than 1 Million Rows)

Problem: Excel shows error that file exceeds row limit (1,048,576 rows).

Cause: TSV file contains more data than Excel can handle.

Solution:

• Use Power Query to split import into multiple sheets
• Use external tools (Python, R, database software) for very large files
• Request a smaller TSV file or subset of the data
• Save as multiple TSV files and import separately

Issue 8: TSV File Opens as Zipped or Compressed

Problem: File explorer shows TSV as archive/compressed file.

Cause: Incorrect file association on your computer.

Solution:

1. Right-click TSV file → “Open With” → Choose “Notepad” or “Excel”
2. To set default: Right-click → Properties → Change → Select Excel

Power Query for Automated Imports

For regular TSV imports, use Power Query to automate the process:

1. Data tab → From Text/CSV
2. Select TSV file
3. Configure delimiter as Tab
4. Click “Load” → dropdown → “Load To” → “Only Create Connection”
5. Next time you need the data, simply refresh the query

Creating Pivot Tables from TSV Data

1. After importing TSV, select all data (or any cell in the data range)
2. Insert tab → Pivot Table
3. Choose where to place the pivot table
4. Drag fields to Rows, Columns, Values areas to create summary

Data Analysis with Formulas

After importing TSV data, use Excel formulas:

=SUM(B2:B100)         - Total a column
=AVERAGE(C2:C100)    - Average values
=COUNTIF(D:D,"Yes")  - Count matching values
=VLOOKUP(A2,Data,3)  - Look up values
=IF(B2>100,"High","Low") - Conditional logic

Creating Charts from TSV Data

1. Select data including headers
2. Insert tab → Chart type (Column, Line, Pie, etc.)
3. Excel creates chart from TSV data
4. Customize colors, labels, and titles as needed

Q: Why would someone use TSV instead of CSV?

A: TSV is preferred when data contains commas (like addresses: “123 Main St, Suite 100”). Since TSV uses tabs as delimiters and tabs rarely appear in data, it avoids the quoting issues CSV has with commas in values.

Q: Can I convert Excel back to TSV format?

A: Yes. In Excel, File → Save As → File type → “Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt)” → Save. This creates a tab-delimited text file compatible with TSV applications.

Q: What if my TSV file has a .txt extension instead of .tsv?

A: Open it the same way. When importing, select “Tab” as the delimiter. Excel doesn’t care about file extension—it recognizes the data structure.

Q: Can Excel handle TSV files with millions of rows?

A: Excel has a maximum of 1,048,576 rows. If your TSV exceeds this, you must either use external tools (databases, Python, R) or split the file into smaller chunks.

Q: Why do numbers show with leading zeros removed?

A: Excel automatically formats numbers, removing leading zeros. To preserve them, format the column as “Text” before importing or immediately after.

Q: What encoding should TSV files use?

A: UTF-8 is standard for international character support. ANSI (ISO-8859-1) is older but still used. If special characters display incorrectly, try changing the encoding in the Text Import Wizard.

Q: Can I edit TSV directly in Excel and save changes back?

A: Yes. Edit your data in Excel, then File → Save As → “Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt)” to save back as TSV format.

Q: Is there a difference between opening TSV and opening CSV in Excel?

A: The process is identical except for the delimiter selection. For CSV, select “Comma”; for TSV, select “Tab”. Everything else is the same.