Tablizer

Convert CSV to DAX Online

Paste a CSV table below, edit it if you need to, and get DAX back. The conversion runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded, there is no size limit and there is no signup.

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The output will appear here once there is a table to convert.

What CSV is

CSV is a text file where each line is a row and commas separate the fields. There is no type system, no formatting and no second sheet. Every value is text until something downstream decides otherwise.

Almost every database, analytics tool and spreadsheet can read and write it, which is why exports default to it.

What DAX is

A DAX DATATABLE expression that defines a table inline in a Power BI model.

Power BI report authors.

What changes when you convert CSV to DAX

Reading CSV means deciding three things the file does not state: which character separates fields, how quotes work, and what encoding the bytes are in. Tablizer sniffs the delimiter from the first few lines, handles quoted fields containing commas and newlines, and reads the file as UTF-8.

All columns are declared as STRING. Change the type declarations by hand if you need numeric columns.

What carries over from CSV to DAX

CSV records 2 things about a table that DAX has no way to hold.

DAX wants a type for each column, and CSV does not record one, so each column is typed from what its values look like. A column of digits that should stay text - a zip code, a phone number, a leading-zero id - is the usual thing to check afterwards.

A line break inside a cell ends the row in DAX, so line breaks are replaced rather than carried through.

DAX marks its header cells differently from its data cells, so the first row is written with that marker.

CSV can be read one record at a time. DAX has to be complete before it means anything, so the whole table is held in memory while it is written and a file that gets cut off part way through is not partly usable - it is unusable.

The identifier 007 comes out of the DAX as 007. Reading it as a number would have made it 7, and an id that changes value is worse than one that stays text.

The role "Analyst, data" survives with its comma, in one cell rather than split across two. That is the first thing to check in any converted table, and the usual place a DAX file goes wrong.

The quotes around Jonah "Jo" Pryce are escaped with a backslash in the DAX.

A worked example

Three rows of staff data, with an identifier that has a leading zero, a value containing a comma, a value containing quotes and one blank cell. Those are the four places formats disagree, so they are the four places to look.

CSV in
id,name,role,started,hours
007,Halima Yusuf,"Analyst, data",2024-03-15,38.5
012,"Jonah ""Jo"" Pryce",Engineer,2025-11-02,
104,Wei Chen,Manager,2023-06-30,40
DAX out
staff =
DATATABLE(
    "id", STRING,
    "name", STRING,
    "role", STRING,
    "started", STRING,
    "hours", STRING
    {
    {"007", "Halima Yusuf", "Analyst, data", "2024-03-15", "38.5"},
    {"012", "Jonah \"Jo\" Pryce", "Engineer", "2025-11-02", ""},
    {"104", "Wei Chen", "Manager", "2023-06-30", "40"}
    }
)

Questions

How do I convert CSV to DAX?

Paste your CSV into the box above or drop the file onto it. Check the table in the grid, then copy or download the DAX from the output panel. It takes one step and the data never leaves your browser.

Why does my CSV open with all the data in one column?

The file uses a delimiter your spreadsheet did not expect. Exports from European locales often use semicolons because the comma is the decimal separator there. Change the delimiter in the export options and the columns split correctly.

One of my cells has a line break in it - what happens?

A line break would end the row in DAX, so it is replaced instead of carried through. The rest of the cell stays where it belongs.

Is there a limit on file size?

No. The work happens on your own machine, so the limit is your machine's memory rather than an upload cap. A file with tens of thousands of rows converts in a second or two.

Is my data uploaded anywhere?

No. The parsing and generating are done by JavaScript running on this page. You can watch the network tab while you convert and see that nothing is sent.

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