How to turn your guest list spreadsheet into a seating chart (CSV to printable chart)

Prepare your guest list spreadsheet: households, groups, and plus-ones

A seating tool can only keep people together if the sheet says who belongs together. Use two columns:

• Name: one person per row. First name and Last name columns work too.
• Household: the same value for everyone who must share a table. A couple, a family with children, a guest and their plus-one.

• Plus-ones: give each one its own row, even unnamed. A seat for "Guest of Sam Lee" is still a seat.
• Children: one row each, in their parents' household, unless they sit at a children's table.
• Only the yeses: move declined guests to another tab before you export, so they don't take seats.
• Head or sweetheart table: leave those guests out of the CSV and seat them by hand.

Export the sheet as CSV

• Google Sheets: File → Download → Comma-separated values (.csv).
• Excel: File → Save As, then choose CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited).
• Numbers: File → Export To → CSV.

You can also skip the file: copy the Name and Household columns and paste them into the tool.

How many tables you need: table sizes and the math

Divide your guest count by the seats per table and round up.

• Take the seat count from your venue. Ask how many seats its tables take and how many tables fit the room, in writing.
• Add a table or two if the math leaves no slack. A family of 5 can't join a table of 8 that already holds 4.
• Big households: a household larger than one table has to split. Decide where the split falls before the tool does it for you.

Seating chart rules of thumb

• Never split a household. Couples, plus-ones, and parents with young children share a table.
• Give every guest someone they know. Seat by circle: family side, work, school, neighbors.
• Keep table sizes even. Seven at one table and ten at the next looks like a mistake.
• Older guests away from the speakers. Families with small children near an exit.
• Known conflicts apart. Check these pairs by hand after the tool has seated everyone.
• Seat after the RSVP deadline. Every late change after that is a manual edit.

Step by step: CSV to printable seating chart with the free Seating Chart tool

1. Open the Seating Chart tool. No sign-up and no limit on guests. To see how it works first, load the 40-guest sample list.
2. Add your list. Upload the CSV, or paste the columns from Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers. The tool says which column it read as the name and which as the group; it recognizes Group, Household, Party, and Family.
3. Set your tables. Enter the seats per table; the tool fills in the number of tables. Add the event name for the printout.
4. Assign seats. Households are seated largest first, each at the emptiest table with room for all of them, then the tables are evened out. If a household has to split, the tool lists it.
5. Fix the seats you care about. Pick a table in the menu next to a name, or drag the name on a computer. A table over its seat count turns red. Click a table's name to rename it.
6. Print. "Print escort list and tables" prints an A–Z list of guests with table numbers, then a list per table. Choose "Save as PDF" in the print dialog to get a PDF.
7. Keep a copy. "Download CSV" saves the chart as you see it, to open in your spreadsheet later.

The tool runs in your browser, so the guest list never leaves your computer.

Share the seating chart with the venue

1. Match the table numbers to the venue's floor plan. Rename tables in the tool so "Table 7" is the same table on both.
2. Send the per-table PDF and the CSV. The PDF is for the staff who set the room; the CSV is for the caterer's own sheet.
3. Add meal choices and allergies to the downloaded CSV in your spreadsheet, if your caterer asks for them by seat.
4. Agree a last date for changes. After it, every change goes to the venue by name, with the table number.
5. Print the A–Z list for whoever sets out the escort cards.

Need a floor plan or a share link today? Seating chart apps compared lists price, CSV import, PDF export, share links, and free tiers for 9 apps, from each vendor's own page.

Questions

Can I import a guest list CSV into a seating chart?

Yes. The free Seating Chart tool reads a CSV, or columns pasted from a spreadsheet, with a Name column and an optional Household or Group column. Commas, semicolons, and tabs all work.

How do I export a seating chart to PDF?

Click "Print escort list and tables" and choose "Save as PDF" as the printer.

Will couples and families stay at the same table?

Yes, if they share a Household value and the household fits at one table. A larger household is split across as few tables as possible, and the tool lists every split.

What if RSVPs change after I print?

Update the spreadsheet, load it again, and reprint, or move the one guest by hand in the tool. Applying RSVP changes automatically is planned for our paid version (see the Our product box above).