CSV Downloads
Download card data as CSV files that open cleanly in Excel or load straight into import tools
You can download the data behind a card as a CSV file, either for yourself or for a system that imports it. Every CSV follows the same format, whether you download it directly, export a large table in the background, or receive it as a scheduled attachment. The same data and settings always give you the same file.
Download a card as CSV
- On the card, open Download (from the card's menu or the toolbar's More options).
- In the export dialog, choose CSV.
- Set the file options:
- Delimiter: comma, semicolon or tab.
- Encoding: how the file is encoded (see Choose an encoding).
- Include column headers: whether the first row holds the column names.
- Click Export.
The dialog decides how the file is made, and says so before you click:
- A table with up to 10,000 rows downloads right away.
- A larger table, up to 1,000,000 rows, exports in full in the background. The server counts the rows, so the file always holds every row.
- A Matrix downloads right away when it is small and continues in the background when it is larger.
You never get a cut-off file: if a table turns out to have more than 10,000 rows while it downloads, the export continues in full in the background instead. Above 1,000,000 rows, the dialog asks you to apply filters first.
While the export runs, the dialog shows its progress and how long it has been running. You can keep working: click Close at any time and the export continues. If a background export finishes while the dialog is open, click Download in the dialog. An export that runs in the background also appears in Activity, behind the bell, where you download the finished file. A file that downloads right away saves on its own, even after you close the dialog. If an export finishes while you're not looking at it, a notice tells you. Every way produces the same file format.
Choose an encoding
| Encoding | What it does | Choose it when |
|---|---|---|
| UTF-8 with BOM (best for Excel) | Starts the file with a three-byte marker that tells Excel the file is UTF-8, so accented names and symbols like € display correctly. This is the default. | People open the file in Excel. |
| UTF-8 without BOM (best for import tools) | Leaves the marker out, so the file starts directly with the first column name. | The file goes into accounting software, an ERP, a database or a script that reads it as plain text. |
If an import tool shows  in front of the first column name, it is reading the Excel marker as text. Switch the encoding to UTF-8 without BOM.
Set the encoding for a dashboard
When a dashboard produces files for a particular system, such as an accounting import, set its encoding once so every download matches:
- Open the dashboard and click Edit.
- Open More options (the three dots) and choose Download settings.
- Choose a CSV encoding.
- Save the dashboard.
The setting applies to every CSV downloaded from the dashboard, including large background exports, and to its scheduled CSV attachments. Your viewers don't need to know about it: the export dialog opens with the dashboard's encoding already selected. Anyone can still pick a different encoding for a single download.
If you manage dashboards through the API, the setting is the exportDefaults field of the dashboard template:
{
"exportDefaults": { "csvEncoding": "utf-8" }
}csvEncoding is "utf-8-bom" or "utf-8". Leave exportDefaults out to use UTF-8 with BOM. A template with any other value is rejected when you save it.
Scheduled CSV attachments
CSV attachments in scheduled reports and briefings have the same Delimiter, Encoding and Include headers settings. A Table or Detail Table attachment holds every row of the card, up to 1,000,000 rows, written exactly as a full-dataset download writes it. Encoding starts at Use dashboard setting, so an attachment follows its dashboard's download settings, including any later change to them. Choose an encoding on the attachment only when that one file needs something different.
The file format
Every CSV file has the same structure:
- Text: UTF-8, with or without the BOM marker, as chosen above.
- Rows: every row, including the last, ends with a Windows line break (CRLF), as the CSV standard (RFC 4180) specifies. Excel, import tools and CSV libraries all read it.
- Values: a value that contains the delimiter, a double quote or a line break is wrapped in double quotes, and any double quote inside it is doubled. For example,
Acme, "West"becomes"Acme, ""West""". - Headers: one header row first when Include column headers is on, and never repeated, however large the file.
- Delimiter: comma, semicolon or tab, as chosen.
Values appear the way the card formats them, such as currency symbols, date formats and number formats. See Display formats for how formats are chosen.
To open the data in a spreadsheet with numbers and dates already typed, download the card as Excel instead.