Mac Won't Open CSV, How Can I Open CSV?

If your Mac won't open CSV files by double-clicking, you may consider various reasons. In this article, you'll learn how to open CSV files and fix CSV files that cannot open with professional file repair software. Keep reading to find out more information!

If you have encountered similar CSV problems like this user, you should understand why Mac won't open CSV files. You can check the following possible causes:

• 1️⃣CSV File Corruption. The CSV might be partially downloaded or damaged during transfer from another device, preventing it from opening cleanly. If your recently downloaded CSV files cannot be opened with any applications, your CSV files might be corrupted.
• 2️⃣Encoding Issues. The file could be saved with a character encoding (like UTF-8 vs. Windows-1252) that your spreadsheet app doesn't automatically recognize.
• 3️⃣Application Confusion. Your Mac might be trying to open the CSV with the wrong program, like a text editor instead of Excel or Numbers, leading to a garbled view. Usually, you can open a CSV in another app to solve this.

Now, check the following solutions to fix Mac won't CSV.

How to Open CSV Files on Mac | Step-by-Step

In most situations, users cannot open CSV files on a Mac in Finder with a quick double-click because nothing is set to handle CSV files. In that case, you should use the Open with feature to open a CSV file in Finder:

Step 1. Find the CSV file in Mac Finder and select it.

Step 2. Right-click the CSV file and choose "Open with". Then you can choose the default Microsoft Excel or Numbers to open the selected CSV files.

You can also open a CSV file in Microsoft Excel or the Numbers app:

✅Microsoft Excel: Open the app, and choose "File"> "Import" and choose CSV file format. Then, follow the prompts to open your CSV files.

✅Numbers: Just click "File"> "Open" and select the CSV files you want to open.

If the desktop apps are not working, you can also open CSV files on a Mac with Google Sheets.

Step 1. Open Google Sheets in your browser.

Step 2. Go to "File"> "Import".

Step 3. Choose the "Upload" tab and drag your CSV file in. Google Sheets is excellent at handling various formats and encodings automatically.

After learning the common ways to open CSV files on the Mac, let's walk through the following steps to repair the corrupted CSV files that cannot be opened.

Fix Mac Won't Open CSV with File Repair Software

Sometimes, the CSV file itself is the problem; the file may be corrupted because of hard drive issues or during downloading/transferring. When all else fails, and your Mac still won't open that crucial CSV, specialized file repair software can be your last resort to recover valuable data.

EaseUS Fixo Document Repair comes in handy when you cannot open Excel or CSV files on your Mac. It's designed specifically to fix file corruption issues.

Beyond CSVs, the EaseUS file repair tool can repair corrupted Excel files and other crucial documents like Word files, PDFs, and PowerPoints. This is ideal for users who work with diverse file types and need a one-stop solution for multiple corruption issues.

If you've tried everything from changing default apps to re-downloading the file with no luck, a dedicated repair tool like the EaseUS CSV repair tool could be the solution you need to finally rescue that stuck data.

Check the following written tutorial and repair your damaged CSV files.

Step 1. Launch Document Repair Software

Run EaseUS Fixo Document Repair. Choose "File Repair" on the left panel. This software allows you to repair corrupted Office documents, including Word, Excel, PDF, and others.

Step 2. Choose and Repair Corrupted Document

Click "Repair All" to repair all the documents added. If you want to repair a single document, move the mouse pointer to the target document and click "Repair." To preview the repaired document, click the eye icon.

Step 3. Preview and Save the Repaired Document

When the repair process finishes, click "Save" to save a selected document. Also, you can click "Save All" to save all repaired documents. To locate the repaired folder, click "View Repaired".

Feel free to share this page on social media to help more Mac users solve CSV file issues.

Cannot Open CSV on Mac FAQs

If you still have more questions about CSV not opening on Mac, check the following frequently asked questions and learn more:

1. Why can my CSV files not be opened on Mac?

If you cannot open the CSV files on a Mac, you may encounter incorrect file encoding or file corruption from a bad download/transfer. Also, you may choose to open CSV files with unsupported apps.

2. How can I change the default app to open a CSV file on Mac?

It's simple to change the default app in Finder:

Step 1. Right-click the CSV file, and select "Get Info".

Step 2. In the "Open with" section, choose your preferred app (e.g., Excel, Numbers).

Step 3. Click "Change All..." to set this app as the default for all similar files.

3. How can I open a CSV file on a Mac without Excel?

You can open a CSV file on a Mac without Excel. There are many other tools that can help you open and edit CSV files, such as Apple's free Numbers app, or a text editor like TextEdit for a raw view. Google Sheets in a web browser is another excellent free alternative.

Conclusion

Dealing with a CSV that won't open on your Mac is frustrating, but as we've seen, you can fix this issue by opening the CSV files in Microsoft Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets instead of double-clicking the files in Finder.

Also, it's wise to ensure that before sending any CSV files, the file is saved in a universal format like UTF-8 encoding.

If you encounter any CSV corruption issues, like the file cannot be opened suddenly or the file shows 0 KB, you can try to repair CSV files on Mac with EaseUS Fixo Document Repair.