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File Formats & Saving

Supported formats

Format Extension Separator
CSV .csv Comma (and others — see below)
TSV .tsv Tab

Even though it's called "Smart CSV Editor," it happily reads files separated by commas, semicolons, tabs, pipes, or spaces, and auto-detects which one a file uses. You can override the detection in Re-open With Settings.

Text encodings

Smart CSV Editor auto-detects the text encoding and can be pointed at a specific one if a file has unusual characters. Supported encodings include:

UTF-8 · UTF-16 (BE/LE) · UTF-32 (BE/LE) · ISO Latin 1 · ISO Latin 2 · Windows 1250 / 1251 / 1252 / 1253 / 1254 · Shift JIS · EUC-JP.

If a file opens with garbled characters, use Re-open With Settings → Text Encoding to pick the right one.

Saving (autosave)

Smart CSV Editor autosaves as you edit — changes are written back to the file automatically, so there's no Save button. Undo/redo history lets you step back through your edits within a session.

To rename, duplicate, move, or delete a file, use the document browser (the file list you see when the app opens, or the Files app): long-press the file and choose the action.

Where your settings are stored

Smart CSV Editor remembers per-file settings — column types, number formatting, rating scale, formulas, column widths, row height, and the header-row flag — on your device, keyed to the file you opened. Your CSV file itself is left exactly as it was: only your data, nothing added.

Open the file again and everything comes back — same types, widths, and formatting.

Key points:

  • Your file stays plain, ordinary CSV. Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets, and scripts read it exactly as they did before.
  • Settings follow the file when you rename or move it in the document browser or the Files app.
  • Settings are stored per device. They don't travel with the file on their own — see Sharing your settings below.
  • Deleting Smart CSV Editor deletes its remembered settings. Your CSV files are untouched.

Your values are never rewritten

Column types and formatting are display-only. A currency column shows 1234.5 as $1,234.50, but the file still stores 1234.5. Smart CSV Editor doesn't reformat, round, or alter your underlying data when it saves.

Sharing your settings

To send someone a file that opens styled rather than raw, use Share CSV from the sheet menu and switch on Include Editor Settings. The copy you send carries a few comment lines at the very top, each starting with #csv::

#csv:,,,,,,,,
#csv:headerRow=true
#csv:columnTypes=text,text,select,number,currency,currency,percentage,checkbox,rating
Date,Item,Category,Qty,Unit Price,Total,Tip,Paid,Rating
2026-06-01,Latte,Drinks,2,4.50,9.00,15,true,5
...
  • This affects only the copy you share. Your own file is not changed.
  • The first line (#csv: followed by empty fields) is a width marker. It carries no setting; it just repeats the delimiter once per column so apps that guess a file's column count or separator from its first line see the grid's real shape. Smart CSV Editor ignores it on open.
  • A setting is only written when it differs from the default.
  • These are standard # comments, so they don't corrupt your data. Other apps either skip them or show them as an extra row you can ignore or delete.
  • Anyone who opens that copy in Smart CSV Editor gets your types, widths, and header-row setting.

The toggle is off by default and remembers your last choice.

Keeping settings inside a file

Some files should carry their own settings — one you move between an iPhone and an iPad, for instance, or one you keep re-sharing.

Turn on Save Layout in This File in the sheet menu and this CSV will write its #csv: lines every time it saves, in the same format shown above. Turn it off and the next save strips them; the settings stay remembered on your device.

Files that already contain #csv: lines — ones made by an older version of Smart CSV Editor, or shared to you with settings included — open with this switch already on, so they keep behaving the way they always have. Turn it off if you'd rather have a clean file.

Which wins

If a file carries #csv: lines, those are what it opens with. Settings remembered on your device are used only for files that arrive plain, so a change you made on another device is never overwritten by an older copy of your settings.

Privacy

Everything happens on your device. Files are read, edited, and saved locally — nothing is uploaded to a server. See the Privacy Policy link in Settings for full details.