I keep an empty sql DB just for importing and working with spreadsheets to minimize how much I have to fuck with excel.
I do a lot of my wrangling in R for more ad hoc stuff.
Might want to give notebooks like Jupyter a try - they make for a pretty good time when it comes to working with data.
Mind elaborating? I'm interested in anything keeping me away from excel
You can also use BULK INSERT for csvs or just INSERT INTO and some text editing depending on the specifics.
This is more for one-off stuff like analyzing some 10,000 row spreadsheet you've been handed that you could probably do with formulas in excel, but it's easier to use sql, but not worth building a proper process for.
Honestly spreadsheets are kind of great for some things. I'm sure most of their bad rep comes from being applied to the wrong problems - see businesses using it for basically everything.
