What exactly is the Google Sheets limit?

Ten million cells per spreadsheet, counting every tab, and 18,278 columns per sheet. A CSV import is refused when the sheet would exceed the cell count.

How do I know how many cells my file has?

Count rows and columns here — the row counter reports both — and multiply. The tool never opens a grid, so a file too large for Sheets counts in seconds.

Is it better to remove columns or rows?

Columns, usually: exports carry many fields nobody uses, and each column removed drops one cell from every row. Then filter rows if the count is still too high.

Can I import the file in pieces?

You can take the first or last so many rows here and import each piece to its own spreadsheet, but the ten million cells apply per spreadsheet, so the pieces cannot be joined back in one.

Is there a way to analyse it without importing at all?

Yes. The SQL console here reads the file in place with no cell limit; group or total it and import only the result, or read it in the editor, which has no limit either.

Is my file uploaded anywhere?

No. The columns are removed on your own machine before the file goes anywhere near Google; the only upload is the one you choose to make afterwards, of a file small enough to fit.

All guides

Google Sheets says the file is too large to import — the ten million cell limit

Google Sheets holds at most ten million cells in one spreadsheet, across all its tabs, and refuses an import that would go past it. Cells are rows times columns, so a file with forty columns reaches the ceiling at two hundred and fifty thousand rows — well short of the million rows Excel allows. The cure is to bring in fewer cells: only the columns you use, only the rows you need, or a summary instead of the raw export.

How many cells your file has

Multiply rows by columns. The row counter here reads the whole file and reports both, plus the blank lines, without opening a grid, so the arithmetic takes a moment: 120,000 rows of 90 columns is 10.8 million cells, and the import will fail even though the file is a fraction of Excel’s row limit.

The limit counts every cell in the spreadsheet, so a file that fits on its own can still be refused when the sheet already has other tabs.

Cut columns first, then rows

Columns are the cheap cut: an export carries dozens of fields nobody looks at, and dropping thirty of ninety columns removes a third of the cells with no loss to the analysis. Pick the columns to delete here, see the width shrink, and download.

Then rows. Keep only those that match a value, or the first or last so many, and download a file that fits. Each tool shows the resulting count before you save anything, so the cell arithmetic can be redone before the next import attempt.

When you need all of it

If the point of importing was to total or group the data, do that first and import the result. The SQL console reads the file in place — there is no cell limit here, because nothing is drawn as a grid — and a grouped summary of a ten-million-cell export is often a few hundred rows.

And if the point was to look at it, the editor here opens a file of any length as a table, scrolling from disk, without importing it anywhere.

Questions

What exactly is the Google Sheets limit?: Ten million cells per spreadsheet, counting every tab, and 18,278 columns per sheet. A CSV import is refused when the sheet would exceed the cell count.
How do I know how many cells my file has?: Count rows and columns here — the row counter reports both — and multiply. The tool never opens a grid, so a file too large for Sheets counts in seconds.
Is it better to remove columns or rows?: Columns, usually: exports carry many fields nobody uses, and each column removed drops one cell from every row. Then filter rows if the count is still too high.
Can I import the file in pieces?: You can take the first or last so many rows here and import each piece to its own spreadsheet, but the ten million cells apply per spreadsheet, so the pieces cannot be joined back in one.
Is there a way to analyse it without importing at all?: Yes. The SQL console here reads the file in place with no cell limit; group or total it and import only the result, or read it in the editor, which has no limit either.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?: No. The columns are removed on your own machine before the file goes anywhere near Google; the only upload is the one you choose to make afterwards, of a file small enough to fit.