File Formats
File Operations
Section titled “File Operations”| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| New file | Ctrl+N |
| Open file | Ctrl+O |
| Save | Ctrl+S |
| Quick Open (recent files) | Ctrl+P |
Quick Open
Section titled “Quick Open”Press Ctrl+P to see a list of recent files. Type to filter, then press Enter to open.
Supported Formats
Section titled “Supported Formats”.vgrid (Native)
Section titled “.vgrid (Native)”VisiGrid’s native format uses SQLite-based .vgrid files. These are:
- Fast to save and load
- Crash-safe (atomic writes)
- Self-contained (no external dependencies)
.xlsx (Excel)
Section titled “.xlsx (Excel)”VisiGrid can import and export Excel .xlsx files, preserving cell values, formulas, and formatting.
.csv (Comma-Separated Values)
Section titled “.csv (Comma-Separated Values)”VisiGrid can import and export CSV files for data interchange. To clean the same export every month, save the steps as an import recipe.
.parquet (Apache Parquet)
Section titled “.parquet (Apache Parquet)”VisiGrid 0.34.0 and later open Parquet files, keeping the column types the file declares. Export them to CSV, TSV, JSON, or .xlsx; from 0.45.0, vgrid convert also writes typed Parquet. See Open Parquet Files for type handling, size limits, and CLI examples.
.duckdb (DuckDB)
Section titled “.duckdb (DuckDB)”VisiGrid 0.45.0 and later open local DuckDB databases read-only: a picker lists the tables, and the ones you choose are copied into sheets. vgrid convert writes a worksheet to a new DuckDB database. See Open DuckDB Files.
.json, .jsonl, .ndjson (JSON exports)
Section titled “.json, .jsonl, .ndjson (JSON exports)”VisiGrid 0.51.0 and later read JSON exports through an import recipe: Data → New Import Recipe…, then choose the file. Nested objects become columns and the result loads as a Table that Refresh updates. From 0.52.0, File → Open on one opens the recipe builder on it. See Import JSON Files.
.recipe.toml (Import recipe)
Section titled “.recipe.toml (Import recipe)”A saved import recipe: a source file and the steps that clean it. Opening one runs it and loads the result as a Table. See Import Recipes.
Session Restore
Section titled “Session Restore”VisiGrid automatically saves your session on quit and restores it on next launch:
visigrid # Restore previous sessionvisigrid --no-restore # Start freshvisigrid -n # Start fresh (short form)visigrid file.vgrid # Open specific file (skip session)Session includes: current file, scroll position, selection, panel states, theme.
Workspaces
Section titled “Workspaces”VisiGrid supports per-project workspaces. Create a .visigrid marker file in your project root:
touch /path/to/project/.visigridWhen you open VisiGrid from within that directory, it loads/saves a project-specific session instead of the global one.