Excel to Markdown
Select the cells in Excel or Google Sheets, copy, and paste them into the box below. You get a Markdown table back, aligned and ready. There is no file to upload and no add-in to install — the conversion happens in this tab.
Built in this tab. Your data is never uploaded.
Why pasting works and a file upload is not needed
When you copy cells, a spreadsheet puts several versions on the clipboard at once. One of them is tab-separated text: a line per row, a tab between cells. That format has been on the clipboard since the 1980s and every spreadsheet still writes it.
So the conversion needs the clipboard, not the .xlsx. That is
a better trade than it sounds: parsing a real workbook means shipping a
large parser to everyone who visits, and it means your file has to go
somewhere. The clipboard route is smaller, faster, and keeps a spreadsheet
of salaries or revenue entirely on your machine.
What survives the trip
| In the spreadsheet | In the Markdown |
|---|---|
| Cell values | Kept exactly as displayed |
| Formulas | The calculated value, not the formula |
| Number and date formatting | Kept, because it is what the cell displays |
| Bold, colour, borders | Lost — Markdown tables have no cell styling |
| Merged cells | Value in the first cell, blanks after it |
| Multiple sheets | One at a time; copy each separately |
| Line breaks inside a cell | Become <br> |
The formula row is the one to think about before you paste. A column of totals arrives as numbers, which is right for a document and impossible to reverse — keep the spreadsheet if you will need to recalculate.
Merged cells are the one real limitation
Markdown has no colspan. A header merged across three columns
cannot be expressed at all, so it arrives in the first column with two
blanks beside it. If the merge carries meaning — a grouped header, a
spanning label — split it in the spreadsheet and repeat the value, or
restructure the table so the grouping is a column of its own.
For anything genuinely two-dimensional, HTML inside the Markdown is the
honest answer. A <table>
with real colspan renders wherever HTML is allowed,
including GitHub.
Getting it looking right
- Set the display format first. The clipboard carries what the cell shows, so change a date or currency format in the spreadsheet rather than editing every cell afterwards.
- Include the header row in your selection. Markdown tables require one, and the grid uses the first row for it.
- Set alignment per column in the grid above — numbers read far better right-aligned, and the colons that do it are the fiddliest part to type by hand.
- Keep it narrow. A twelve-column table is unreadable in rendered Markdown and worse in a README on a phone. Transpose it, or split it.
Going back the other way
Paste a Markdown table into the same box and switch the output to CSV. Excel and Google Sheets both read CSV straight from the clipboard, so the round trip works without a file at either end.
Common questions
- How do I convert Excel to Markdown?
- Select the cells in Excel, copy, and paste into the import box above. Spreadsheets put tab-separated text on the clipboard, which is read straight into the grid — no file to upload and no add-in to install.
- Do I need to upload my .xlsx file?
- No, and there is nowhere to upload it to. This works from the clipboard rather than the file, which is why a spreadsheet of real figures is safe to convert here — nothing leaves the tab.
- What happens to formulas?
- The clipboard carries the calculated values, not the formulas, so a cell showing 1,240 arrives as 1,240 rather than as =SUM(B2:B9). That is almost always what you want in a document, and it is the one thing you cannot undo afterwards.
- What about merged cells?
- Markdown has no way to express a cell spanning two columns, so a merged cell arrives as its value in the first position and empty cells after it. Split merged cells in the spreadsheet first if the layout matters.
- Does it keep number and date formatting?
- It keeps what you see, not what is underneath. A date displayed as 04/08/2026 arrives as that text, and a currency cell keeps its symbol and separators. Set the display format in the spreadsheet before copying rather than fixing it afterwards.
- Can I go the other way, Markdown into Excel?
- Yes — switch the output to CSV and paste that into a spreadsheet, or paste the Markdown table into the import box and choose CSV. Excel reads CSV from the clipboard directly.