MarkdownPaper Open reader

Markdown table generator

Type into the grid, or paste cells straight from Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers, and get a Markdown table with its columns lined up. Open a CSV file to convert it, paste an untidy Markdown table to clean it, or take a Markdown table back out as CSV. It all runs in your browser.

Make a Markdown table

Grid

Paste cells from a spreadsheet into the grid, or CSV into the Markdown. Nothing is uploaded.

Three ways to start

  • From a spreadsheet: select the cells, copy, click a cell in the grid and paste. The cells land in place and the table grows to fit them, as in the spreadsheet.
  • From CSV: choose Open CSV and pick a .csv or .tsv file, or paste the text into the Markdown field. Commas, semicolons and tabs are all understood, and quoted values keep their commas.
  • From Markdown: paste an existing table into the Markdown field to edit it in the grid. When you leave the field, its pipes are lined up again.

The first row is the header. Enter moves down a column and adds a row at the bottom, and the buttons add or remove a row or column beside the cell you are in.

Alignment and the source

The buttons above each column cycle through the default, left, center and right alignment, which Markdown writes as colons in the line under the header:

You write

| Item     | Qty | Price |
| :------- | :-: | ----: |
| Notebook |  2  | 4.50  |
| Pen      |  10 | 1.20  |

You see

ItemQtyPrice
Notebook24.50
Pen101.20

Lining the pipes up is optional, since a renderer ignores the spacing, but it makes the table readable as plain text in a code editor or a pull request. Wide characters such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean count double, so those columns line up too. A pipe inside a cell is escaped as \|, and a line break becomes <br>, since a table row has to stay on one line.

The Markdown tables guide covers the syntax in full, including what a table cannot hold.

Back to a spreadsheet

The generator works the other way too. Paste a Markdown table into the Markdown side, from a README, a pull request or a chat answer, and take it out again as a spreadsheet:

  • Download .csv saves a CSV file that Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers open directly, accents and all. A value holding a comma or a quote is quoted, so it stays in one cell.
  • Copy cells puts the table on the clipboard the way a spreadsheet does, so pasting into a sheet fills the cells rather than one long line.

Questions

How do I convert Excel to a Markdown table?

Select the cells in Excel, copy them, click the first cell of the grid above and paste. Copy the Markdown when it looks right. The same works for Google Sheets and Numbers.

How do I convert CSV to a Markdown table?

Choose Open CSV and pick the .csv file, or paste the CSV text into the Markdown field. The table appears in the grid, ready to adjust.

How do I convert a Markdown table to CSV or Excel?

Paste the Markdown table into the Markdown side, then choose Download .csv for a file, or Copy cells and paste straight into Excel or Google Sheets.

Can I edit an existing Markdown table?

Yes. Paste it into the Markdown field, change it in the grid, and copy the result. The alignment it had is kept.

Is my data uploaded?

No. The table is built in this tab, and nothing you paste or open leaves your browser.