CSVFileView is that alternative. It has been developed by Nirsoft, and provides capabilities to view and convert CSV and tab-delimited files. The portable software uses the standard Nirsoft interface.

You can load supported file formats via the File > Open option or with a click on the load file button in the toolbar. The program processes the file then and display all of its values in rows and columns on the main screen. Here it is then for instance possible to sort by column header or use the Find command (Ctrl-f) to find specific entries within the data.

Another handy option is the ability to remove columns from the display via View > Choose Columns. Columns can also be dragged around, which can be helpful to place all important data columns next to each other to make them visible on the screen.

I would not say that the program is necessarily faster than Office or Open Office. Maybe the start is, but the main advantage is that the tool is portable and a lot easier to use. If you do not need editing, then this is a solid alternative.

CSVFileView supports saving and exporting of some or all data sets. Just select the data sets that you want to export, and either right-click the selection or use the File menu to export it.

The program can not only export to CSV and tab delimited files, but also to plain text, tabular text files, HTML files and XML files.

CSVFileView can be downloaded from Nirsoft. The program is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

Convert is a data conversion software that can convert the data formats dBase, csv and sdf. One of the more interesting features for webmasters is the option to create MySQL database import information on top of csv or sdf output files which make it possible to convert one of the data formats into a file that can be imported into a MySQL database.

The software displays all options in the main interface which might be a bit intimidating for inexperienced users. Most of the settings however do not need to be edited to work with the application. The minimum is to select the input file format and load it into the data conversion software.

The second step is to select the output format and click on the write output file button in the lower left corner. It might be necessary to change the character set, decimal separator, csv separator or csv field frame if these do not match.

This is however easy to check as the data sets are displayed in the main interface once the input file has been loaded.

Interesting are the hierarchical sorting conditions which are completely optional as well as the record filter. The data conversion software convert can also concatenate files.

The most common use of csv files is data export and import. Many applications provide an export to csv option which will store the selected data in a csv file which can then be imported into another application that supports csv import.

Problems can arise if the generated csv file becomes very large as some applications or computer systems might run into limits. That’s where CSV Splitter (via Technospot) would come into play. The portable application can split large csv files into multiple files limiting the newly created csv files by the number of lines.

The new csv files will be created in a subdirectory in the same location. It will be named after the original csv file. The application requires the Microsoft .net Framework 1.1.

The manual way would be to export the Calendar files from Microsoft Outlook as comma separated values (csv) and import them into Mozilla Lightning. To do that open Microsoft Outlook and select File > Import and Export from the top menu.

The Import and Export Wizard will show up offering choices to import data into Microsoft Outlook and export data into files as well. Pick the Export To A File entry from the selection.

The Export To A File menu shows up which offers to export data into various file types. Select the Comma Separated Values (Windows) entry from the available choices.

After making that selection it is time to select the data that should be exported. Pick the Calendar entry from the available data sources.

Select a file name for the calendar export, pick the data range that you want to export and save it to the computer’s hard drive. Now that the exported data is available it is time to import it into Mozilla Lightning.

Make sure that the Mozilla Lightning extension for the email client Thunderbird has already been installed. Start Mozilla Thunderbird afterwards and click on the Calendar button in the lower left corner of the application’s window. It is possible to use the shortcut [CTRL 3] to go to the calendar as well.

Lightning supports Calendar imports from csv and ics files. Pick the csv filter in the file browser and navigate to the hard drive folder that contains the Microsoft Outlook Calendar export. A click on that file will load the calendar in Mozilla Lightning and make the calendar available there.

The Open Source tool Outpost provides an elegant alternative. It has not been updated in the last years but is still able to export Outlook data. It can be used to export Outlook Calendar data in an ics file which can then be imported into Mozilla Lightning or any other application that supports the format.