How to Import CSV in SSMS

SSMS import CSV: which method to use

If your data is in an Excel workbook, Microsoft's advice for the flat-file wizard and BULK INSERT is to save the sheet as CSV first (File > Save As > CSV (Comma delimited)), keeping only the header row and data rows. Each sheet is saved separately.

CustomerID,FullName,City,SignupDate
1,"Patel, Asha",Leeds,2026-01-15
2,Tom Baker,Bristol,2026-02-03
3,Mia Wong,York,2026-03-21

Method 1: the Import Flat File Wizard

Microsoft describes this wizard as a simple way to copy data from a flat file such as .csv or .txt into a new table. It uses the PROSE framework to infer column names, types and delimiters, and supports commas, tabs, semicolons, pipes and fixed-width files.

1. In Object Explorer, connect to the server, expand Databases, right-click the target database, point to Tasks and select Import Flat File (just above Import Data).
2. On Specify Input File, choose Browse, select the file and enter a new table name. The name must be unique; the wizard will not continue otherwise.
3. On Preview Data, check the first 50 rows. If anything looks wrong, cancel and fix the file.
4. On Modify Columns, correct names, data types, primary key and Allow Nulls. Widen text columns (for example nvarchar(100) instead of the detected length) if later rows may be longer.
5. Review the Summary and select Finish. The Results page shows whether the import succeeded.

Common failures. Types are detected from the first 200 rows, so a longer value or a stray text value further down causes errors such as "String or binary data would be truncated". Microsoft suggests widening the column types on Modify Columns, and enabling error reporting with a small range to find the offending rows. The wizard reads the file with the system's active code page (usually ANSI), so accented characters in a UTF-8 file can come through wrongly; use one of the other methods if that matters.

Method 2: the SQL Server Import and Export Wizard

Use this wizard to append to an existing table, set the code page, or save the job as an SSIS package. In SSMS 22 the wizard belongs to the Integration Services component, part of the Business Intelligence workload in the Visual Studio Installer; SSMS 22.0.0 reinstated it. If Import Data is missing from the Tasks menu, modify the SSMS installation to add that component.

1. Right-click the database, point to Tasks and select Import Data.
2. On Choose a Data Source, select Flat File Source and browse to the file.
3. On the General page, set Unicode or a Code page, keep Format as Delimited, set Text qualifier to " if fields are quoted, and tick Column names in the first data row.
4. On the Columns page, check the row delimiter (usually {CR}{LF}) and column delimiter (Comma); then review types on Advanced and the Preview.
5. Choose the destination (your SQL Server and database), map to a new or existing table, then run the package or save it.

Press F1 on any wizard page to open Microsoft's help for that page.

Method 3: BULK INSERT from a query window

BULK INSERT loads a file into an existing table and can be saved as a script. Since SQL Server 2017, FORMAT = 'CSV' follows RFC 4180, with FIELDQUOTE defaulting to a double quote, so quoted fields containing commas load correctly. CODEPAGE = '65001' reads UTF-8.

Three things trip people up. The path is resolved on the server running SQL Server (use a UNC path for a file share), and with SQL Server Authentication the file is read as the SQL Server service account. You need INSERT and ADMINISTER BULK OPERATIONS permissions (ADMINISTER DATABASE BULK OPERATIONS in Azure SQL Database, where the file must be in Azure Storage). And Microsoft notes that FIRSTROW is not intended to skip headers: it is used that way in Microsoft's own CSV example, but the skipped rows are not validated, so make sure the header has the same number of fields as the data rows.

CREATE TABLE dbo.Customers (
    CustomerID int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
    FullName   nvarchar(100) NOT NULL,
    City       nvarchar(50) NULL,
    SignupDate date NULL
);

BULK INSERT dbo.Customers
FROM 'C:\data\customers.csv'
WITH (
    FORMAT = 'CSV',
    FIRSTROW = 2,
    FIELDTERMINATOR = ',',
    ROWTERMINATOR = '0x0a',
    CODEPAGE = '65001'
);

Check the result

Run SELECT COUNT(*) FROM dbo.Customers; and compare it with the number of data rows in the file, then spot-check text with accents and dates. If an insert fails with a duplicate key, see error 2627; truncation errors are covered under error 8152. To go the other way, see How to export query results to Excel/CSV in SSMS in the related guides. On macOS or Linux, the MSSQL extension for VS Code has its own Import flat file wizard; see the VS Code MSSQL extension review.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Microsoft Learn: Import Flat File to SQL Wizard
• Microsoft Learn: Start the SQL Server Import and Export Wizard
• Microsoft Learn: Connect to a Flat File Data Source (Import and Export Wizard)
• Microsoft Learn: Import data from Excel to SQL Server or Azure SQL Database
• Microsoft Learn: BULK INSERT (Transact-SQL)
• Microsoft Learn: Components and features in SSMS
• Microsoft Learn: Workload and component IDs for SSMS
• Microsoft Learn: SSMS 22 release notes
• Microsoft Learn: MSSQL extension for Visual Studio Code

Checked 8 October 2026.

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