SmashDash guides
Practical, hands-on guides for everyday spreadsheet tasks – from converting CSV to Excel to choosing the right chart type. Every guide is free to read and links to the matching tool.
All guides at a glance
Each article answers one concrete question in depth and shows the quickest way to a result – in the browser, with no upload and no account.
- Convert CSV to Excel – without data loss (2026 guide) – Open CSV in Excel or save as XLSX without breaking umlauts, leading zeros or number formats. A step-by-step guide.
- Extract a table from PDF to Excel – here’s how – Reliably move tables from PDF files into Excel, CSV or JSON – no retyping and no file upload. What works and where the limits are.
- Find & remove duplicates in Excel – plus cleaner data – Spot and remove duplicate rows, empty rows and wrong number formats. Why clean data is the foundation of every correct analysis.
- Create a chart from Excel data – fast and clear – Build an interactive dashboard from an Excel or CSV table in minutes. Which columns work and how to pick the right chart type.
- Which chart type for what? Bar, line, pie & Sankey – Choose the right chart type for your data: when bar, line, pie, doughnut or Sankey makes sense – with concrete examples and rules of thumb.
- Convert Excel to CSV – with the right delimiter & UTF-8 – Export XLSX cleanly to CSV without breaking accents, delimiters or numbers. Why “Save as” often fails and how to do it reliably.
- Merge PDF files – combine several into one, no upload – Combine several PDFs into one document in the right order – right in the browser, without watermarks and without uploading the files.
- Compress a PDF – reduce file size without quality loss? – Compress large PDFs for email and upload. Why only image-heavy files shrink, which level to pick – and when there is nothing to gain.
- Split a PDF & separate pages – extract single pages – Break a PDF into several documents or pull out single pages. How to set cut points and get multiple parts as a ZIP – without upload.
- Convert JSON to Excel – turn API data into a table – Convert JSON from APIs and exports into an Excel table. Why flat data works best and how to handle nested JSON.
- Open an Excel file without Office – view & analyse in the browser – Open, view and analyse XLSX or CSV without Excel installed – right in the browser, no sign-in and without uploading the file.
- Build a dashboard: 7 rules for a clear analysis – A dashboard understood at a glance: which metrics belong in it, how to arrange charts and which mistakes make it cluttered.
- XLSX, CSV or JSON? Spreadsheet formats compared – When to use XLSX, CSV, JSON or HTML for your data. Strengths, weaknesses and the right use case for each format – clearly explained.
- Anonymise data in Excel & CSV – before you share it – Remove or mask personal data in tables before passing them on. What anonymisation means and what to watch out for.
- Design a chart for a presentation – clear & professional – Charts for slides and reports that work even from the back row. Colour, labelling, reduction – plus how to build a mockup without real data.
All SmashDash tools at a glance
SmashDash brings five free spreadsheet tools together in one place – each runs entirely in the browser, with no upload and no account:
- Turn Excel and CSV into interactive, filterable charts. – Turn Excel and CSV into interactive, filterable charts.
- Design charts with your own values and export them as SVG or HTML. – Design charts with your own values and export them as SVG or HTML.
- Convert Excel, CSV and JSON into XLSX, CSV, JSON, Markdown or HTML. – Convert Excel, CSV and JSON into XLSX, CSV, JSON, Markdown or HTML.
- Remove duplicates and empty rows, normalise number formats. – Remove duplicates and empty rows, normalise number formats.
- Merge, split and compress PDFs and extract tables. – Merge, split and compress PDFs and extract tables.
All processing happens locally in your browser – your files are never uploaded, fully privacy-friendly.