CSV Validator — Detect Formatting Issues
Validate your CSV file and get a detailed report of formatting issues, encoding problems, and inconsistencies.
What this tool does
Before importing data, run it through Tabular's CSV Validator. It catches mismatched column counts, encoding issues, duplicate headers, and other common problems — so your import doesn't fail halfway through.
Problems it solves
- Finding broken rows before a database import
- Detecting encoding issues in international data
- Identifying rows with missing required fields
- Catching duplicate column headers
- Validating files from untrusted sources
Example
Two issues detected in the validation report.
Before
| Name | Name | |
| Alice | alice@example.com | Smith |
| Bob | ||
| Charlie | charlie@example.com | Brown |
After
| Issue | Row | Details |
| Duplicate header | — | Column 'Name' appears twice |
| Inconsistent columns | 2 | Row 2 has 1 column, expected 3 |
Frequently asked questions
What issues does the validator detect?
Duplicate headers, rows with inconsistent column counts, encoding issues (non-UTF8 characters), cells that appear malformed, and rows with missing required values.
Does validation modify my file?
No. The validator is read-only. It produces a report, not a cleaned file. Use other Tabular tools to fix the issues found.
Is this free?
Yes. CSV validation is available on the free plan.
Can I validate XLSX files?
Yes. XLSX files are converted to a row stream and validated the same way as CSV.
How do I fix the issues found?
The report links to the relevant Tabular tools for each issue type. For example, duplicate rows link to the Remove Duplicates tool.
Related tools
Remove Duplicates
ProInstantly remove duplicate rows from any CSV or spreadsheet. Keep your data clean and analysis-ready.
Trim Whitespace
Strip leading and trailing spaces from every cell in your CSV or spreadsheet with one click.
Remove Empty Rows
Clean up blank rows from CSV and Excel files automatically. Get a compact, analysis-ready dataset.