CSV cleanup quickstart

A review-first checklist for fixing an exported CSV before it reaches a CRM, spreadsheet, or reporting workflow.

Before you change anything

1. Keep the original export untouched and work on a copy.
2. Write down the expected row count, header names, and the system that will receive the cleaned file.
3. Confirm whether blank identifiers, repeated transactions, or multiple people at one company are legitimate in this dataset.

Repair and review

1. Check the delimiter: comma, semicolon, tab, or pipe. Open a few quoted cells containing commas or line breaks.
2. Check encoding and visible row-shape warnings. Do not silently drop malformed rows.
3. Choose identity fields deliberately. Normalize only what is safe for this dataset, such as surrounding whitespace or case where appropriate.
4. Review exact and near-duplicate groups before removing anything. If fields conflict, keep the group for manual resolution.
5. Export with the intended delimiter, then reopen the result and compare headers, row count, and a few known records.

Need a repeatable local check?

CSV Repair & Deduper is a one-time $19 browser tool. It detects common delimiters, handles quoted and multiline fields, flags row-shape problems, finds exact and near-duplicates, and exports locally without uploading the file.