How to search for a name or value across several CSV files at once
To search several CSV files at once, open them together and search across all of them instead of using Find in each one. In BigXL press Cmd+Shift+F (Ctrl+Shift+F on Windows and Linux), type the word, and see which files contain it, how many times, and where. Click a match to go straight to that cell. Everything runs on your own machine.
A client asks which of last year’s exports mentioned a particular supplier. You have twelve CSV files on your desktop. The usual routes are all slow: open each file and press Find, use your operating system’s search and hope it looks inside spreadsheets, or write a script and then trust it.
There is a quicker way, and it works on files that are far too big for Excel.
What you actually want
When you search across files, the questions are always the same:
- Which files mention this? You want a short list, not every hit from every file.
- How many times, and where? A count per file, then the exact cells for the file you care about.
- Can I go and look? One click from a match to the cell, in context.
A flat list of thousands of hits from one noisy file hides the other eleven. So the useful order is files first, then the matches inside one file.
Searching in BigXL
Open the files you want to search. Each one is a tab. Then press Cmd+Shift+F (or Ctrl+Shift+F on Windows and Linux), or choose Edit, Search all files.
- Type the word or value. Results appear as you type.
- Read the list of files. The ones with matches come first, each with a count.
- Click a file to see its matches: the column, the row number and the cell text with your word highlighted. They are listed ten to a page.
- Click a match. BigXL switches to that file and puts the cursor on the cell.
You can also just ask Bix, the assistant: “search all files for Smith”. It opens the same panel with the word already typed.
Two options worth knowing
Match case. Off by default, so smith finds Smith and SMITH. Turn it on when capitals matter, for example when ID and id mean different things in your data.
Similar spellings. Names are rarely typed the same way twice. With this on, a search for Jon Smith also finds John Smith. It only starts at five letters, so short words stay exact, and it never matches across different numbers. Searching for invoice 1042 will not return 1043. That keeps the extra results useful rather than noisy.
It searches what you see
Search follows each tab as it stands now. If you have filtered a file down to one region, you only get matches from that region. If a column is masked, you find the masked text, never the original behind it. That makes it safe to use on a file you are about to share.
Big files are fine
The files are not loaded into memory. They are searched in place by the same engine that sorts and filters, so a multi-gigabyte export is no harder than a small one. On a test file of ten million rows, an exact search took under a second, and with similar spellings on it took a few seconds.
Nothing leaves your computer. Search is part of the free version.
If you also need to compare two of those files or merge them, see how to compare two CSV files.
Common questions
How do I search for one value across many CSV files?
Open the files as tabs, then use search across files. It lists the files that contain the value first, then the matches inside the one you pick, and clicking a match opens that file at that cell.
Can it find a name even if it is spelled slightly differently?
Yes. Switch on similar spellings and it also finds close matches, such as John for Jon. Close matching starts at five letters, and it never matches across different numbers, so invoice 1042 will not match 1043.
Does it respect my filters?
Yes. It searches what each tab shows right now, so a filtered tab only returns the rows you can see.
Does it search masked columns?
It searches them as they appear. A masked email is found by its masked text and never by the hidden original.
Is anything uploaded to do the search?
No. The search runs on your computer, and the files never leave it.