How to Merge CSV Files

Let’s say you want to merge data from 200 CSV files into one.

If only there were a powerful way to do that in a few clicks, life would have been so much easier, right?

Well, there is.

But First...

If you’re someone who doesn’t know anything about Gigasheet, then here’s the approach you’ll probably take:

1. Launch CSV files that you want to merge in Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel.
2. Create a blank CSV file – where you can paste the data copied from other CSV files one by one. Let’s call it the “Master CSV” file.
3. Manually copy data from CSV files one by one and paste all of it to the Master CSV file.

First of all, it’s a lot of work. You’re literally launching CSV files one by one, copying data from them, and pasting it to the MASTER CSV file.

Now, if you’re planning to merge data from only a few CSV files, let’s say 3-5, then you can take the above-mentioned approach.  But what if you have to combine data from a lot of CSV files into one?

Secondly, there is always a possibility of human error. If you decide to do it manually, you’ll likely miss out on a couple of rows. Or what if you paste a row on top of another; thereby eliminating a key row?

Gigasheet users are already using the platform’s “Combine” feature to merge multiple CSV files into one. And they’re saving so much time doing it. Let me show you how to do it!
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Merge CSV Files into One Using Gigasheet

Follow these steps to merge multiple CSV files into one using Gigasheet:

1. Get All Your CSV Files Ready (Skip This Step If You Already Have the CSV Files with You)
2. Sign Up for & Log in to Gigasheet
3. Upload Your CSV Files to Gigasheet
4. Merge CSV Files by Clicking a Button

Hate reading? You may find a video around the same topic from our founder Jason here:

Get All Your CSV Files Ready (Skip This Step If You Already Have the CSV Files With You)

To show you this incredible feature, we downloaded multiple CSV files from the “World Carbon Pricing Database” on GitHub. Here’s the database’s description on GitHub for better understanding:

This database comprises carbon pricing schemes’ institutional variables for numerous national jurisdictions. To show you Gigasheet’s Combine feature, we’ll merge data from all these CSVs into one.

You may find the GitHub project here. You can find the datasets at this location:

_dataset -> data -> CO2-> national

Screenshot:

If you want to try out this feature, you can download the same files from GitHub. However, if you’re not a regular GitHub user, you may find it challenging to download all these files from GitHub.

How to download from GitHub:

• Step I – Navigate to the repository you want to download files from. It’s the folder where all your CSV files are located. You may locate all your files here. Copy the link of the repository.
• Step II – To download all the CSV files at once, head over to download-directory.github.io/
• Step III – Paste the GitHub repository or folder link here:

• Step IV – Hit Enter.

Once you perform these steps, all your files will be downloaded in the form of .zip.

We extracted our .zip file and found more than 200 CSV files inside.

NOTE - Gigasheet archive limit is 100. So, if you have more than 100 CSV files, then you’ll have to add them to separate folders.

Once you have the CSV files ready, the next step is to sign up for and log in to Gigasheet.

Sign Up for & Log In to Gigasheet

Gigasheet is free to use. You don’t need to make a purchase to combine your CSV files. Click here to sign up for Gigasheet. If you already use Gigasheet, you can log in here.

Once logged in, it’s time to upload all the CSV files that you want to combine.

Upload Your CSV Files to Gigasheet

If you’re an active Gigasheet user, you may already have active ongoing projects that you may be working on. So, it’s a good practice to create a New Folder for every project you tackle.

Once logged in, select “ADD FOLDER” to create a new folder inside Gigasheet.

Let’s name it “Merge.”

Once named, click on “Save” to create the folder.

As you can see – the folder has been created.

Head over to the folder by clicking on it.

If CSV Files <100

Now, if you have less than 100 CSV files to merge, then you can just upload your files inside the folder. To upload them, click on “+ NEW” and select “Upload File.” Once uploaded, you’re ready to roll.

If you have less than 100 CSV files, then you can just skip to Step IV. However, if you have more than 100 CSV files, then we recommend continue reading.

If CSV Files >100

Gigasheet will not be able to process more than 100 CSV files inside a single folder – as the Archive limit is 100.

So, what I did was – I created three folders (on my Desktop) – comprising 67 files each and compressed them. Now, I have 3 ZIP files – which I’ll be uploading inside the Merge folder.

If you want to try Gigasheet’s Combine feature using the same dataset we’re using in this post, allow me to make the process easier for you.

I uploaded these three ZIP files to a Google Drive folder. You may find it here.

Gigasheet allows you to upload different types of files – from CSV to LOG to JSON and more. You can also upload ZIP files – and we’ll be doing the same.

It’s time to upload all three ZIP files inside Gigasheet.

How to do that?

Click on “+ NEW” and select “File Upload.”

Now, you’ll see this pop-up:

Gigasheet allows you to add files in multiple formats and from different sources. We’ll select “Browse” and select the three ZIP files – which comprise the CSV files we want to merge.

Gigasheet will take a few moments to upload and process your CSV files. Also, the platform will automatically extract your ZIP file.

Now, it’s finally time to merge the CSV files.

Merge CSV Files by Clicking a Button

Before you merge CSV files, it’s important to note that all CSV files that you want to merge should have the same number of columns. Otherwise, you’ll see the following error:

Since all of our data is from the same dataset, we know that it all matches. Let's merge!

Select all the CSV inside the folder that you want to merge using the top box. Or if you want to merge a select few specific ones, then you can select them individually.

Since we want to merge all of them, we selected all the files inside folder “1.”

Now, click on “COMBINE” to merge all the CSV files – as displayed in the screenshot:

Now, Gigasheet will ask you to type in the combined fill name – where the combined data will be added.

Let’s name it “Merged File 1.”

Click on “Save” to continue with the merge process.

Gigasheet will take a few moments to merge the data.

And it’s done. It's that easy!

Here’s a screenshot of data from the merged file inside Gigasheet:

That’s how you can merge multiple CSV files into one inside Gigasheet.

Now, if you have more than 100 CSV files to merge, then we recommend you to continue reading. If your CSV file count is less than 100, then you can just skip to the conclusion.

If CSV Files > 100

Remember the three ZIP files we extracted inside Gigasheet – each comprising 67 CSV files? In the above steps, we merged CSV files inside folder “1.” We performed the same steps for CSV files inside folders “2” and “3.”

We named the three files:

• Merged File 1
• Merged File 2
• Merged File 3

Now, we moved all three merged files inside one folder “Merged Files.”

Now, we’ll merge the three merged files.

And it’s done:

Ready to Combine Your CSV Files?

Combining CSV files has never been easier. We bet you’ll fall in love with this feature. Gigasheet is a great tool for all industries, from Sales & Marketing to Cyber Security, and everything in between. Besides combining your CSV files, you can use Gigasheet to quickly filter data, group it by column, clean it, perform calculations, and do so much more.

We’d love to have you try Gigasheet.

Sign up today!

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