Questions and answers
What people ask before they download — and in the first days after.
The promise
Does Intact CSV Editor change my files?
Only where you change them. Open a file and save it without edits and you get the same bytes back: the same separator, quoting, encoding, byte-order mark and line endings. Automated tests check it for every preset, for Windows-1252 and UTF-16 files, for values with line breaks inside and for a file of a million rows.
Why do leading zeros stay?
Because a value is kept as the text that was in the file. 00731 is shown and saved as 00731; it is only treated as a number where you ask for arithmetic — in the status bar, in a sort, in SQL. More on leading zeros.
What about JSON and SQLite, which have real types?
Formats with real types store numbers the way any such store does: 1234.50 typed into a CSV becomes 1234.5 in a JSON number or a database column. Delimited text, Excel and OpenDocument keep the text exactly as written.
What if I type a character the file's encoding cannot hold?
The save stops and tells you which character, in which cell — a € in a Latin-1 file, say. You can change the value or save in another encoding. It is never written as a question mark.
Files and formats
Which formats can it open?
Delimited text of every kind, fixed-width text, Excel and OpenDocument workbooks, HTML and Markdown tables, JSON, JSON Lines, YAML, XML, property lists, BSON, Parquet, Avro, ORC, Arrow, SQLite, HDF5, SPSS, Stata, SAS, R, MATLAB, EBCDIC mainframe files with a COBOL copybook, vCards and your Mac's Contacts. All formats.
Does saving an Excel file give me an Excel file?
Yes. Saving writes the same format back — a workbook stays a workbook. Save As converts between any of them.
How large can a file be?
Millions of rows. The table is held in memory as compact UTF-8, so your Mac's memory is the limit: five million rows of a 312 MB file take about 186 MB for the table itself.
Can it open a file from a web address?
Yes — File ▸ Open from a Link. Only an address you typed or picked from the list is fetched, and only over http or https.
Privacy and the network
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. Reading, editing, SQL, macros and exports all happen on your Mac.
Does the app send anything at all?
Only when you ask — opening a link, signing in, checking for updates (off unless you switch it on) — with one exception: once at launch and once a day it sends a usage count made of a random number, the app and macOS versions, your region and your first language. Never your account, never anything about a file. Turn it off in Settings ▸ Info and nothing is sent. Privacy.
Does it work offline?
Yes. The licence is checked now and then and keeps working in between.
Trial and licence
How long is the trial?
Seven days without an account; fourteen from the same start with a confirmed email address. Every feature is included and no card is needed.
What does a licence cost?
The price is announced with the public release. Pricing.
Which Macs does it run on?
Macs with macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
Open your most difficult file.
Every feature for seven days, fourteen with a free account. No card, and your files never leave your Mac.
macOS 14 Sonoma or later · See pricing