CSV, Excel & JSON files

TableGrip opens CSV, Excel and JSON files as if they were database tables. You get the same grid, filters and SQL console, and when you commit a change it is written back to the file, keeping its format.

#Supported files

#Opening a file

• Explorer: + ▾ → Open Data File…, or the same item in the explorer's right-click menu.
• Drag and drop one or more files onto the main window.
• New Connection: paste the file's path into Paste, or choose it in the File row with Browse…. For CSV you can set the Delimiter (Detect, Comma, Semicolon, Tab, Pipe), the Encoding, and whether The first row names the columns.
• From your file manager: CSV, TSV, Excel, NDJSON and JSONL files can be opened with TableGrip directly (double-click or Open With). Such a file opens in a window of its own, with buttons to open another file, reload it, reveal it in the file manager, or query it with SQL in the main window.

#Querying with SQL

Open a console on the file's connection (⌘ T) and write SQL against it as against any database. Under the hood, the file is loaded into a private SQLite working copy, so joins, aggregates and window functions all work.

SELECT country, count(*) AS customers
FROM customers
GROUP BY country
ORDER BY customers DESC;

#Saving changes back to the file

• Changes you commit from the table viewer, an import or a schema tool are written to the file straight away. Changes committed from a console are written within a second.
• Writes go to a temporary file first, which then replaces the original in one step, so a crash never leaves a half-written file.
• Right-click the file's connection for Save to File Now, Reload from File, Reveal in File Manager and Open in Separate Window.

#What is kept

#When the file changes on disk

If another program changes the file and you have nothing unsaved, TableGrip reloads it. If you do have unsaved changes, it asks: Keep mine, overwrite the file, or Discard mine, reload it.

Closing the app or the connection with changes that aren't written yet opens Unsaved Data Files, with Save and Continue or Discard Changes.