Excel · format guide
Excel to map
MapCrafter reads the first sheet of an .xlsx or .xlsm workbook. Put column names in the first row, with coordinates, WKT or GeoJSON geometry, or address fields below. Legacy .xls files must be saved as .xlsx or CSV before importing.
What a Excel file is
Excel is where most location data actually lives, and it is the worst place for it to live: merged cells, formula columns, dates stored as serial numbers, and multiple sheets that each look like the real one. Asking people to export to CSV first is a step that loses information and often loses rows.
The importer uses the first sheet and treats its first row as headers. Additional sheet names are reported, but there is no sheet picker. Move the data sheet first or export it separately. Date-formatted cells are converted to dates; formulas are not recalculated.
After import the workflow is identical to every other format, which is the point — the file type should not change what the tool can do.
What MapCrafter reads from it
- First worksheet
- Only the first sheet is imported; other sheet names appear in the report
- First-row headers
- Remove title rows and blank rows above the column names before importing
- Formula columns
- Cached values may be available; recalculate and save in Excel, or paste formulas as values first
- Date columns
- Excel serial dates are converted to real dates instead of showing as five-digit numbers
- Latitude and longitude, WKT, or addresses
- Same detection as CSV
Mapping a Excel file, step by step
- 1
Drop the workbook in
Use an .xlsx or .xlsm workbook. Save older .xls files as .xlsx or CSV first.
- 2
Prepare the first sheet
Move the data sheet first and put column names on its first row.
- 3
Confirm the geometry
Latitude and longitude, WKT, a geometry column or an address column.
- 4
Style and publish
Colour by a column, size by a value, then share or export.
Things that go wrong with Excel
Every one of these is a property of the format rather than a bug in a particular tool, which is why they keep happening.
Numbers arrive as text and refuse to colour.
A cell formatted as Text, or containing a non-breaking space (CHAR(160)), is not a number to a parser. Use VALUE() or TRIM() in a helper column, or let MapCrafter treat it as a category instead.
Dates show as 45000-something.
That is the Excel serial date, counting days from 1899-12-30. MapCrafter converts a date-formatted column automatically; a column that was stored as a plain number cannot be detected, so format it as a Date in Excel first.
Only some rows imported.
Usually a merged cell in the header row, or a blank row in the middle of the data. Both break the rectangle that a table is supposed to be. Unmerge the headers and delete blank rows before importing.
The wrong sheet was read.
MapCrafter imports the first sheet, even if another sheet holds your data. Move the correct sheet first, or save it as a separate workbook or CSV.
A pivot table lost its structure.
Pivot tables are a display of a summary, not a table. Import the source data instead, or copy the pivot and paste it as values into a fresh sheet.
Excel maps in the gallery
4 live maps built from Excel data, each showing its source columns and the geometry that was detected.
- ChoroplethGDP per capita, country by countryGDP per capita in thousands of current US dollars, using the World Bank’s 2023 snapshot. A sequential scale ranks countries without inventing a meaningful midpoint; missing observations remain grey and are identified in the key.
- Proportional symbolJapanese metro areasA dense coastal corridor rendered as proportional symbols over the Midnight theme. Widely varying symbol sizes need a dark, low-contrast basemap so the largest markers do not compete with the map underneath them.
- Territory mapSales territories around MunichWedge-shaped territories sharing exact edges, coloured by category with revenue in the popup. Shared edges are what make a territory map look designed: independently drawn polygons leave slivers and overlaps that read as sloppiness.
- Point mapSwiss cities at national scaleA small country at a zoom where every city is visible at once. Small extents are where basemap quality shows most: at zoom eight there is nowhere for a badly chosen road colour to hide.
Excel questions
- Can I map an Excel file without converting it to CSV?
- Yes, for .xlsx and .xlsm. The first sheet is read directly. Put headers in the first row, check identifier columns for leading zeros, and use saved values rather than relying on formula recalculation.
- What if my spreadsheet has several sheets?
- Only the first sheet is imported, and the report lists additional sheet names. To import a different sheet, move it first or save it separately before importing again.
- Does it handle .xls as well as .xlsx?
- The current reader supports .xlsx and .xlsm, but not the older binary .xls format. Save .xls as .xlsx or CSV first. Macros are not executed.
- Can I colour map regions from an Excel column?
- Use a polygon file with the values already attached to its features. You can add built-in boundaries separately through “Add a region map”, but the studio does not join an Excel value table to those boundaries automatically.
Other formats MapCrafter reads
Start with your own fileLast updated 2026-10-22.