About FileGlance
View, filter, and transform tabular data files using JavaScript directly in the browser.
Why FileGlance?
Frustrated by:- Needing different tools for different formats.
- Lack of tools optimized for quickly understanding data.
- Messy files that require cleaning before use.
I built FileGlance as a side project and a fun way to learn React and Tailwind.
Maybe it will help others, too.
It aims to be both:
- Simple: Just drag and drop a file; it automatically detects encoding, delimiter, headers, and more.
- Powerful: Run custom JavaScript to filter and transform data at scale.
Features
- Drag-and-drop support for all common file types (CSV, XLSX, JSON, etc.)
- Automatic detection of file encoding, delimiters, and data location
- Optimized display (hides empty columns by default)
- Simple filtering with value facets for exact matches
- Full-text search across data
- Basic sorting functionality
- Advanced row filtering using custom JavaScript
- Advanced value transformation using custom JavaScript
- One-click export to CSV, XLSX, or JSON
- Handles large files with virtualized list rendering
- Visual representation of value counts (histograms for numeric data)
- Progressive Web App (PWA) support
- Privacy-focused: Your data never leaves your device
Use Cases
Data Viewing & Exploration
View raw data and column types. Get visualizations for categorical and continuous data (histograms). For numeric values, see statistics like average, median, min, and max. Use it as:
- Online CSV / TSV / Excel viewer
- See column stats like average, median, min, and max for numeric columns (e.g., "Find the average order value in a sales CSV")
- Data type inspector (e.g., "Quickly validate which columns are text, numbers, or dates")
- File converter (e.g., "Convert an Excel file to CSV or JSON in one click")
Data Filtering & Cleaning
Apply quick filters with one click or use complex filter functions with custom JavaScript. For example:
- Remove empty rows or columns
- Trim whitespace from values
- Deduplicate based on specific columns
- Find unique values
- Replace missing values with defaults
- Detect and handle outliers
Data Transformation
Transform data using custom JavaScript functions. For example:
- Parse numbers from text
- Normalize text case (e.g., all lowercase)
- Split the domain from an email
- Format Unix timestamps to readable dates
- Merge similar categories (e.g., "NY" and "New York")
- Export to CSV, JSON, Markdown etc.
Tech Stack & Code
FileGlance is built with TypeScript, Next.js/React, Tailwind CSS, and Recharts. It is open source under the AGPL license. Interested developers can find the full source code on GitHub: https://github.com/dell-mic/file-glance