Google apps script to export to individual csv files all sheets in an open spreadsheet

export-to-csv.gs

/*
 * script to export data in all sheets in the current spreadsheet as individual csv files
 * files will be named according to the name of the sheet
 * author: Michael Derazon
*/

function onOpen() {
  var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
  var csvMenuEntries = [{name: "export as csv files", functionName: "saveAsCSV"}];
  ss.addMenu("csv", csvMenuEntries);
};

function saveAsCSV() {
  var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
  var sheets = ss.getSheets();
  // create a folder from the name of the spreadsheet
  var folder = DriveApp.createFolder(ss.getName().toLowerCase().replace(/ /g,'_') + '_csv_' + new Date().getTime());
  for (var i = 0 ; i < sheets.length ; i++) {
    var sheet = sheets[i];
    // append ".csv" extension to the sheet name
    fileName = sheet.getName() + ".csv";
    // convert all available sheet data to csv format
    var csvFile = convertRangeToCsvFile_(fileName, sheet);
    // create a file in the Docs List with the given name and the csv data
    folder.createFile(fileName, csvFile);
  }
  Browser.msgBox('Files are waiting in a folder named ' + folder.getName());
}

function convertRangeToCsvFile_(csvFileName, sheet) {
  // get available data range in the spreadsheet
  var activeRange = sheet.getDataRange();
  try {
    var data = activeRange.getValues();
    var csvFile = undefined;

    // loop through the data in the range and build a string with the csv data
    if (data.length > 1) {
      var csv = "";
      for (var row = 0; row < data.length; row++) {
        for (var col = 0; col < data[row].length; col++) {
          if (data[row][col].toString().indexOf(",") != -1) {
            data[row][col] = "\"" + data[row][col] + "\"";
          }
        }

        // join each row's columns
        // add a carriage return to end of each row, except for the last one
        if (row < data.length-1) {
          csv += data[row].join(",") + "\r\n";
        }
        else {
          csv += data[row];
        }
      }
      csvFile = csv;
    }
    return csvFile;
  }
  catch(err) {
    Logger.log(err);
    Browser.msgBox(err);
  }
}

hi does it work with drive api.

awesome! thanks!

¿How to export only specific range from specific Sheet?

Hello Michael,

thank you for the script - it works perfectly! I was wondering, if it is possible to alter it somehow so it would be able to export files in .tsv format instead of .csv? I tried to replace the comma character on lines 203 and 211 with space, but I need tabs instead of spaces. Do you know about any solution, please?

Thanks,
Martin

@martinneuschl: Just use "\t" instead of ","

Instead of creating a new folder / new file every time, could I use this to update an existing file in the same folder?

@cgrouge: Yes, you can. Just use this function:

function writeFile(folder, fileName, data) {
  var existingFiles = folder.getFilesByName(fileName);
  if (existingFiles.hasNext()) {
    existingFiles.next().setContent(data);
  } else {
    folder.createFile(fileName, data, 'text/csv');
  }
}

Hi, this is being very helpful, but is there a way to DOWNLOAD the CSVs instead of creating a folder in Drive?

I need them to upload the files in another place, so having to download them from gdrive is adding 1 more step

@EdusanSanta: You can do that directly from the Google Sheets UI:

File > Download > Comma-separated values (.csv, current sheet)

@EdusanSanta: You can do that directly from the Google Sheets UI:

File > Download > Comma-separated values (.csv, current sheet)

Yes, but i have many sheets and that option only exports the active sheet.

The script Will convert all My sheets into csv, but would be great if after that it downloads them.

Is it possible?

@EdusanSanta: There's a way, but it's not as straightforward as you might like:

• Browsers require the user to perform an action (i.e. click) to initiate a download - you can't "push" a download to the user. App Scripts don't have any special way to achieve this either.
• If you want to download multiple files (csv files cannot contain multiple sheets/tabs), this means one click per file.
• Downloads are usually done through the use of download links (MDN doc here - see "download" attribute), using either data urls, object urls, or traditional links pointing to a file on a server.
• Data urls can have size limitations in some browsers, so use with caution. The data also needs to be encoded - either url encoded, or base64 encoded.
• In general, object urls are preferred - but I don't think the API is available in app scripts.

Here are some resources if you'd like to learn more:

• Create a Downloadable Link using HTML5 Download Attribute
• Programmatic file downloads in the browser
• Using HTML5/JavaScript to generate and save a file

Here's how I would implement your download of all sheets:

• Use app scripts to build a custom popup/dialog with a downloadable link for each sheet.
• I would hijack the functionality already offered by Google Docs, and build links that point to the File > Download > CSV url for each sheet.
• Here's what the urls looks like: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/[DOCUMENT_ID]/export?format=csv&id=[DOCUMENT_ID]&gid=[SHEET_ID]
• You can get the DOCUMENT_ID via SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getId()
• You can get the SHEET_ID for each sheet via Sheet.getSheetId()

@mderazon thanks a lot for sharing this.
Could you be having a snippet code that can convert an individual sheet to a downloadable excel(xlsx) file.
I have tried the following code but the issue is, its downloading all sheets instead of an individual sheet.
function makeXlsx() { var sheetId = "1x53K43fytf55k4D0WqWckKCpX_1w0098-a8HM"; var url = "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/" + sheetId + "/export?format=xlsx&access_token=" + ScriptApp.getOAuthToken(); var blob = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url).getBlob().setName(name + ".xlsx"); folder.createFile(blob); }

Hi
I'm using this code to save a whole lot of bank account details to a CSV file, but some bank accounts start with a zero and when the account number is saved to the csv file, the leading zero is dropped. Please can someone suggest a edit that will solve this.

Thanks

Hello - this is working but when I open the file in a text editor, there are many blank rows with:
"","","","","","","","","","",""
Is there a way to get it to stop at the end of the last row with data instead?