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How-to

How to Open a Facebook Group Member List in Excel or Google Sheets

Updated · 3 min read

Export the members to a CSV file, then open it in Excel (Data → From Text/CSV, encoding UTF-8), Google Sheets (File → Import → Upload) or Numbers (just open it). Using the import screen instead of a double-click keeps accented and non-Latin names readable. Then freeze the header row and add filters.

The columns of a Facebook group members CSV opened in a spreadsheet
One row per member, one column per field.

Step 1: get the CSV

If you don’t have the file yet, follow how to export Facebook group members to CSV. Group Exporter for FB saves one row per member with: User Id, Username, Is Verified, Friendship Status, Group Bio, Join Status Text, Extracted At, Profile Url and Avatar.

CSV is plain text with commas between values. Every spreadsheet app can read it. The only trap is character encoding.

Open it in Excel (Windows or Mac)

Group Exporter writes UTF-8 with a marker (BOM) that recent Excel versions recognize, so a double-click usually works. If names show up as é or ?, import it instead:

  1. Open a blank workbook.
  2. Go to Data → From Text/CSV and pick the file.
  3. Set File origin to 65001: Unicode (UTF-8) and Delimiter to Comma.
  4. Click Load.

Long IDs turning into 1.00E+14?

Excel may show long numbers in scientific notation and round them. In the import preview, click Transform Data, select the User Id column and set its type to Text. Keep IDs as text: you’ll need them exact to compare exports later.

Open it in Google Sheets

  1. Open sheets.google.com and create a blank spreadsheet.
  2. Go to File → Import → Upload and drop the CSV.
  3. Choose Replace spreadsheet, separator Detect automatically (or Comma).
  4. Uncheck Convert text to numbers, dates and formulas so IDs stay exact.
  5. Click Import data.

Google Sheets handles UTF-8 natively, so accents and emoji in names display correctly.

Open it in Numbers (Mac)

Double-click the file or drag it onto Numbers. It reads UTF-8 correctly. Format the User Id column as Text before sorting.

Step 2: make the list usable

  1. Freeze the header row (Excel: View → Freeze Top Row; Sheets: View → Freeze → 1 row).
  2. Turn on filters (Excel: Data → Filter; Sheets: Data → Create a filter).
  3. Hide what you don’t need: Avatar links are long and rarely useful in a sheet.
  4. Make profile links clickable: in Sheets they are already; in Excel use =HYPERLINK(H2) in a new column if needed.

Useful things to do with the list

  • Find verified members: filter Is Verified = true.
  • Read bios for moderation: filter or search the Group Bio column for spam patterns.
  • Count members: the number of rows minus the header.
  • Compare with an older export: see who joined or left. Our free member export comparison tool does it in your browser.

Store it safely

This file contains personal data about real people. Keep it out of shared folders, don’t email it around, and delete old exports you no longer need. If privacy laws like GDPR apply to you, they also apply to this file. Use it to run your group better, never to contact members outside Facebook without their consent.