What's actually in this spreadsheet? Check before you build on it
Quick answer
Open the Data Profiler - it shows what each column actually contains, how much is missing, and where the likely quality problems are, without changing your file at all.
- 1Upload your spreadsheet.
- 2Read the column-by-column summary.
- 3Check what is missing or inconsistent.
- 4Decide what needs cleaning before you use it.
Free, no sign-up, and your file is read on your own device rather than uploaded.
A spreadsheet you did not build yourself - inherited from a colleague, exported from another system, downloaded from somewhere - often has a gap between what it looks like and what it actually contains. A column that looks like dates might be a mix of dates and text. A column that looks complete might be a third empty.
This reads every column and reports what is actually there: the data type, how much is missing, how many distinct values exist, and specific quality issues - before you build a report, a lookup or an analysis on data you have not actually checked.
Step by step
Upload your spreadsheet
Read locally in your browser - nothing changes about the file.
See What Is in My FileRead the column summary
Each column, its detected type, how much data is missing, and how many distinct values it holds.
See What Is in My FileCheck the quality flags
Specific issues - inconsistent formatting, unexpected types, likely duplicates - called out per column.
See What Is in My FileDecide what needs fixing
Use the findings to decide whether to clean the data first, or which columns are safe to build on as-is.
See What Is in My File
Tips
- Run this before a VLOOKUP or comparison against another file - if the key column has mixed types or a lot of missing values, that explains a lookup failure before it happens rather than after.
- A column that looks like numbers but is flagged as text usually means the export stored them as text - clean the file first, since totals and lookups both behave differently for text-that-looks-like-a-number versus a real number.
- Use this alongside Data Cleaner: profile first to see what is actually wrong, then clean the specific issues it found rather than guessing.
Common problems
A column you assumed was complete turns out to have a lot of missing values.
The profiler reports exactly how much is missing per column - decide whether to fill it, exclude those rows, or treat the column differently in whatever you build next.
A number column is not behaving like numbers in a formula or lookup.
Check the detected type - if it shows as text rather than numeric, the values are stored as text and need converting (Data Cleaner does this) before arithmetic or an exact numeric match will work correctly.
Frequently asked questions
- Does profiling change my data?
- No - it only reads and reports on the file. Nothing is modified.
- What does it check for each column?
- The detected data type, how many values are missing, how many distinct values exist, and specific quality issues like inconsistent formatting or likely duplicates.
- Should I profile before or after cleaning?
- Before - profiling tells you what is actually wrong, which makes cleaning more targeted than guessing which fixes to apply.
- Is my spreadsheet uploaded to a server?
- No. Profiling happens entirely on your own device, in your browser.
Related data tools
- Data CleanerTidy a spreadsheet, and see exactly what changed, with real before-and-after examples.
- Duplicate FinderFind duplicate rows by whichever columns actually define a duplicate.
- VLOOKUP OnlineBring columns from one sheet into another, without writing a formula.
Related articles
- Excel & Data
How to clean messy Excel data without writing formulas
Upload your spreadsheet and the cleaner trims extra spaces, fixes inconsistent capitalisation, standardises dates and numbers, and drops blank rows - reviewable before you apply anything.
- Excel & Data
How to find duplicate rows in Excel
Upload your spreadsheet, choose which columns define a duplicate (or use the whole row), and the tool lists every duplicate group so you can review and remove them.
- Excel & Data
How to match two spreadsheets without writing a formula
Upload both files, click the matching column in each table (the connector shows what you picked), tick the columns you want copied across, then run it and download the result.
Ready to do it?
Free, no sign-up, and nothing is uploaded to a server.