Frequently asked questions

CSV and XLSX files, up to the size limit for your plan (see the next question). You can also clean a Google Sheet directly from Drive - see Google Sheets below - without downloading it first.

Two separate limits apply - a row count and a file size - and whichever you reach first is the one that stops you:

• Free - 500 rows, up to 5MB.
• Pro (1,000 rows) - up to 5MB.
• Pro (5,000 rows) - up to 10MB.
• Pro (25,000 rows) - up to 25MB.
• Pro+ - no row limit, up to 50MB.

The size allowance rises with the row tier on purpose. A wide dataset - fifty or more columns - can pass 5MB long before it reaches its row limit, so a single flat cap would stop you well short of the rows you paid for.

If you upload past a tier's limit, that's rejected straight away rather than part-way through, telling you how many rows or MB the file has and which tier actually covers it. Buying a Pro tier happens before you pick a file, though, so it's worth checking your file's size first if you're near a tier boundary - a purchased tier that turns out too small for the file you bring isn't automatically refunded, though it does stay unused, so get in touch and we'll sort it out.

• Free - up to 500 rows, no account required. Standardises formatting (names, emails, phone numbers, dates), fixes whitespace and casing, and removes exact duplicate rows.
• Pro - a one-time payment per file, no account required, for files up to 1,000 rows, 5,000 rows, 25,000 rows. Adds the advanced cleaning rules, including address, postcode, and locality validation against real geographic data.
• Pro+ - a monthly subscription. No row limit, every feature on every upload, an account to save your cleaning preferences, and access to past uploads and exports.

See exact prices for your region.

No - you can upload a file and clean it fully anonymously, including a one-time Pro purchase. An account only saves your cleaning preferences and lets you revisit past uploads. Cleaning a Google Sheet does require being signed in, since it works by connecting your Google account - see Google Sheets below.

Yes - connect your Google account first (see the next question), then use the "Pick from Google Drive" button on the upload page to select it directly.

1. Sign in to your DataMadeClean account (or create one - it's free).
2. Go to Settings and, under "Google Sheets", click Connect Google account.
3. You'll be sent to Google's own sign-in and permission screen. Choose your Google account and click Allow.
4. You'll land back on Settings showing "Connected".
5. Go to the upload page - you'll now see a Pick from Google Drive button. Click it, choose your sheet from the picker that opens, and it's read in the same way as any other upload.

We only ever request access to the specific sheet(s) you select through that picker - never blanket access to your whole Drive. You can disconnect at any time from Settings, which immediately revokes and deletes the stored access.

Two common causes:

• You picked the file before finishing the connection, or before this feature was working correctly for you - try picking it again through the button (a stale selection doesn't retroactively become valid).
• Your Google session may have been disconnected on Google's side. Go to Settings, disconnect, then connect again.

Standardising formatting (names, emails, phone numbers, dates, addresses), fixing whitespace and casing, removing exact duplicate rows, and - on paid plans - validating and correcting addresses/postcodes/localities against real geographic data. Every change is logged and shown to you on the results page and in the downloadable changes.csv - nothing is changed silently.

Yes - a signed-in account can opt individual cleaning rules out entirely in Settings, and the upload page's per-column controls let you fine-tune things like date/phone formatting and optional column splits for a specific upload.

Only if you were signed in when you uploaded it - every upload made while signed in is listed in My uploads, where you can reopen the results, re-download, or delete it manually at any time.

It's not there forever, though: how long it stays depends on your retention setting in Settings - 1 day, 7 days (the default), 30 days, or (on a paid plan) indefinitely. Once that period passes, the file and its results are deleted and the link stops working.

An anonymous upload (no account) isn't listed anywhere, and its link expires after 1 hour - there's no way to come back to it later, so sign in first if you might want to revisit it.

We only use your file to perform the cleaning you asked for - we don't use it for anything else, and we don't sell it. Full details, including what's collected and which third parties are involved, are in the Privacy Policy.

Everything is transferred over HTTPS in transit. Encryption at rest for stored files is planned but not yet implemented - we'll update this answer with the specifics once it ships.

Yes, any time - go to Settings and click Manage billing under the Subscription tab. Cancelling there keeps Pro+ active for the rest of the billing period you already paid for, then drops back to the free plan rather than ending immediately.