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, color, 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 and formatting?
- You get what you see, not what is underneath. The clipboard carries calculated values, so a cell showing 1,240 arrives as 1,240 rather than as =SUM(B2:B9); 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Can I convert a CSV file to Markdown?
- Yes, two ways. Paste the CSV text into the import box here, quoted cells and all. Or drop the .csv file itself onto the editor on the home page and it opens as a Markdown table document, ready to edit and export, still without being uploaded anywhere.
Sources
- GFM spec: tablesthe table syntax the cells become
- GitHub Docs: organizing information with tables