Skip to main content
Question

Unable to import CSV files

  • July 11, 2025
  • 5 replies
  • 369 views
L
Forum|alt.badge.img+1
  • Los
  • New Participant

AirTable is not allowing me to upload my CSV file.

 

  • I click on the + sign, select “CSV file” under “Add from other sources”.
  • I drag in my CSV file under the “Local Files” section and click “Upload 1 file”.
  • It seems to work, I select “Create a new table” under the “Import your file” dropdown.
  • It shows me a beautifully created base with all the column's I’d like. 
  • However when I click “Import” I get an error sign saying “Can’t import CSV file” with the statement “Invalid data” underneath.

 

Does anyone know what might be going on / how I can fix this. The only option airtable gives me is to click a button saying “Okay” and I’m back to the start. 

5 replies

ScottWorld
Forum|alt.badge.img+35
  • ScottWorld
  • Genius
  • July 11, 2025

Here are some ideas:

  1. You may want to try using the CSV Import extension, and see if that works for you.
  1. If that doesn’t work either, you may want to open a support ticket by emailing support@airtable.com.
  1. Also, are you importing a lot of rows/records from your CSV file? There used to be a limit of about 5,000 rows, if I recall correctly.
  1. Also, you may be able to import your data using Make’s CSV tools, as I demonstrate in this Airtable podcast episode. 

Hope this helps!

If you have a budget and you’d like to hire the best Airtable consultant to help you with this or anything else that is Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld

Alexey_Gusev
Forum|alt.badge.img+25

Hi,
Try to cut a little piece from your CSV, like 10% and load it. Then 30%, 60%. If 60% OK, try to load other 40% to other table. If fields match, you can later join them by copy-paste. At least you will locate the problem place in file, or ensure that a size of data portion to be loaded is the problem.

Taha-Jiruwala
Forum|alt.badge.img+9

What I feel is that some part of the data you're trying to upload isn't supported. As suggested by ​@Alexey_Gusev, try uploading a small sample of your data and if that works, then there's definitely a problem with a specific part of your dataset. By testing different sections, you can narrow down the issue.

Apart from the options mentioned by others, you can also try the Spreadsheet Importer extension (I built it) and see if that works for you.

If you've tried everything and are still stuck, feel free to reach out, we can go through it together.

Taha, Airtable Advisor

TheTimeSavingCo
Forum|alt.badge.img+31

Any chance you’ve got an empty column header somewhere?  That’s usually what breaks the import for me

Adam, Airtable Consultant - thetimesaving.company
A
L
Mike_AutomaticN
Forum|alt.badge.img+28

Hey ​@Los,

How big is your CSV file? Any chance you could solve this by just copying and pasting all values (altogether) from the CSV to Airtable? I know this is probably far from ideal, but in some cases that is the only thing you actually need :D

If you’d like us to go through your issue together on a quick call, please feel free to grab a slot using this link. I’d be happy to help.

Mike, Consultant @ Automatic Nation

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement