Why export Excel to CSV
Most systems that import data — online shops, email marketing tools, CRMs, accounting and billing software, databases and banking portals — ask for CSV, not Excel. CSV is plain text that every program understands.
What happens when you convert
Your .xlsx workbook is read in the browser and each sheet is saved as its own CSV file, named after the workbook and the sheet. Values are written with proper quoting where they contain commas or quotes, and every row gets the same number of columns so the file imports cleanly.
What CSV keeps and loses
CSV keeps only cell values. Formulas are replaced by the last result Excel saved; formatting, colours, merged cells, column widths, charts, pictures and comments are dropped. Hidden rows and columns are included as normal data.
Common problems and how to fix them
A formula cell is empty: the workbook was created by a program that did not save results — open and save it in Excel, then convert again. Dates look different: CSV stores dates as text; format them as the importing system expects before converting. The importing system shows broken characters: make sure it reads the file as UTF-8.
Good habits
Remove helper and summary sheets you do not want to import, check the first few rows of the CSV in a text editor, and keep the original workbook.