Why does Excel put everything in one column?

The file is comma-separated. With regional settings that use a semicolon as list separator, common in much of Europe, Excel splits a double-clicked file at semicolons. Import it via Data → From Text/CSV instead.

Export your work hours to Excel (CSV)

Want your timesheet in Excel – to keep calculating, or for someone who prefers spreadsheets? Zeitbro exports a month as a CSV file. What matters is opening it so every value lands in its own column.

What you need

Entries for the month – workdays, vacation, sick days or public holidays.
A spreadsheet app such as Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets.

1 · Get the export ready

The steps up to the export button are the same as for the PDF – see Export your timesheet as PDF. In short: click Reports at the top (on a phone, in the bar at the bottom), pick the month and open Export, the fourth tab (on a phone the tabs show icons only). Nothing is selected under Filter by Status at first, and Export as CSV stays disabled until you tick some day types or click Select All. Then pick HR table or Payroll export under Preset – Payroll export ticks all day types for you.

2 · Choose formats your spreadsheet understands

Under Options, two groups of buttons decide how values are written.

Hours: 8:33 writes hours and minutes. The button 8.55 (decimal hours), preset by Payroll export, writes a decimal with a comma – 8,55 – whatever the app language.
Date: one button per format. HR table starts from the one in your settings, Payroll export uses DD.MM.YYYY. Pick what your spreadsheet expects – YYYY-MM-DD is unambiguous in any language.

Changing either switches the preset to Custom – the export works just the same.

3 · Export as CSV

Click Export as CSV. Your browser downloads the file, usually into your Downloads folder, and Zeitbro confirms with Report exported. The file is named like hr-report-october-2026.csv; with the Payroll export preset the name ends in -lohn.

4 · Open it in Excel

Use Data → From Text/CSV, choose the file and check the preview: Delimiter should say Comma and File Origin UTF-8 (the file’s byte order mark usually takes care of that). Then click Load. Older versions and the Mac may name it differently, such as From Text.

Everything in column A?

That happens on a double-click when your regional settings use a semicolon as list separator. Close the file and import it as above.

5 · Open it in Numbers or Google Sheets

In Numbers, open the file with a double-click or File → Open – it usually splits the columns itself. In Google Sheets, go to File → Import, upload the file and leave the separator on “Detect automatically” or “Comma”.

Numbers or text?

With 8.55 (decimal hours) the file holds hours like 8,55, with a decimal comma. Whether they arrive as numbers depends on your spreadsheet’s regional settings and the import; they may become text or a different number, such as 855. Check a few cells: numbers sit right-aligned, text left-aligned, and 8,55 must still be 8.55 in value. If not, set the import’s locale or region to German – the option’s name depends on program and version. Google Sheets uses the spreadsheet’s locale: set it under File → Settings, then import into that spreadsheet, not a new one.

What’s in the file

The table does not start in row 1. Above it are the title, month, creation time, selected day types and number of entries. Then comes the header row with Date, Day, Status (or Time type if you chose that column), Start, End and Worked Hours, plus your picks under Columns. At the bottom there is a summary with Total Days and Total Hours and a breakdown by status.