Column Types¶
By default every column is plain Text. But you can tell Smart CSV Editor what a column means — a price, a checkbox, a star rating, a dropdown — and it will render and let you edit it accordingly. This is one of the things that makes editing a CSV on your phone far nicer than staring at a wall of commas.
Your data is never changed
A column type only affects how a column looks and how you edit it. The underlying CSV text is left exactly as it is. Setting a column to Currency shows 1234.5 as $1,234.50, but the file still stores 1234.5. Change the type back to Text and the raw value is right there.
Setting a column's type¶
Two ways:
- More ••• → Manage Columns lists every column with its current type — tap a type chip to change it. Best when setting up several columns at once.
- Or long-press the column header → Column Type → pick a type.
The nine types are below.
The types at a glance¶
| Type | Icon | Shows as | How you edit it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Plain text | Type freely | |
| Number | Right-aligned, formatted number | Number pad | |
| Currency | Money in a currency (e.g. $9.00) | Number pad | |
| Percentage | Number with a % suffix | Number pad | |
| Checkbox | A tappable ✓ box | Tap to toggle | |
| Select | A value chip with a dropdown | Tap → pick a value | |
| Rating | Star rating | Tap a star | |
| Image | Thumbnail of an image URL | Type/paste a URL | |
| Link | Tappable underlined link | Type/paste a URL |
Text¶
The default. Anything goes. Edited with the normal keyboard.
Number¶
Displays the value as a right-aligned, formatted number with the column's decimal and grouping settings (see Number formatting below). Editing brings up the number pad.
Values that aren't valid numbers are shown in red so you can spot bad data.
Currency¶
Formats the stored number as money, e.g. 9 → $9.00. Right-aligned. The currency used is:
- the column's own Currency setting if you set one, otherwise
- the app-wide Default Currency, otherwise
- your device's locale.
You edit the plain number — the currency symbol and grouping are display only.
Percentage¶
Shows the stored number with a trailing % — 50 displays as 50%. The value is not scaled (50 means "50%", it is not multiplied by 100). Edited as a number.
Checkbox¶
Renders a checkbox. Tap it to toggle between checked and unchecked — no keyboard needed. A cell counts as checked when its stored text is any of: true, 1, yes, y, x, ✓, checked, or on. Tapping canonicalizes the value to true / false.
Select (dropdown)¶
Turns a column into a dropdown. Tapping a select cell opens a value picker listing the values that already exist in that column, plus a field to type a new value. There's no separate "manage options" list — the options are whatever's already in the column, exactly like the filter panel. You can also Clear Value from the picker.
Great for status columns, categories, tags, and anything with a fixed set of values.
Rating¶
Shows a row of stars. Tap a star to set the rating to that number; tap the highest lit star again to clear it back to "unrated". Empty cells are unrated.
By default a rating is out of 5 stars, but you can change the scale per column:
- Long-press the column header.
- Tap Rating Scale.
- Choose from 1 to 10 stars.
Image¶
Renders each cell's image URL as a small thumbnail. Supports full web URLs, and scheme-less ones like example.com/photo.png (assumed https://). To see the full image, long-press the cell → Open Link, which opens it in your browser. Values that aren't loadable URLs are flagged in red.
Link¶
Renders the cell as an underlined, tappable link. Long-press → Open Link opens the URL in your browser. Scheme-less URLs get https:// added automatically. Non-URL text is shown as plain text.
Number formatting (decimals, grouping, currency)¶
For Number, Currency, and Percentage columns, the column header menu gives you fine control over how numbers appear. (These are display-only — the stored CSV is untouched.)
Long-press the column header to find:
| Setting | What it does | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Decimals | Fixed number of decimal places (0–6), or Auto | Number, Currency, Percentage |
| Thousands Separator | Toggle grouping, e.g. 1,234,567 vs 1234567 |
Number, Currency, Percentage |
| Currency | Which currency this column uses (or Default) | Currency only |
| Rating Scale | Number of stars (1–10) | Rating only |
Store cleaner numbers
Setting Decimals to 2 displays 26.666666 as 26.67. This is purely how it's shown — but it's exactly the kind of tidy-up that's painful to do by hand on a phone.
Header row and typed columns¶
If you turn on First Row Is Header, row 1 is treated as column names: it always shows as plain text (never as a checkbox, star, etc.), it's excluded from Select dropdown options, and it stays pinned on top when you sort.
Saving column types¶
Column types and their formatting settings are saved with the file (in a small comment header at the top — see File Formats & Saving). Open the file again later and your columns come back fully typed. Other apps that read the file just see plain CSV.