Markdown Table Formatter & CSV Converter
Paste a messy markdown table, CSV, or Excel copy and get it padded, aligned, and converted to Markdown or CSV instantly. Runs 100% in your browser.
| Name | Role | Team | | ----- | -------- | -------- | | Alice | Engineer | Platform | | Bo | Designer | Growth | | Priya | PM | Platform |
Overview
Paste a markdown table, CSV, or a table copied from Excel or Google Sheets into the box above. The tool detects the format from the first line, pads every cell to match its column's widest value, and adds a valid separator row, so it reads correctly in any editor or renderer. Switch the output to CSV, pick left, center, or right alignment, then copy the result. Nothing is ever uploaded.
How it works
- 1Paste your table: a markdown table, CSV, a table copied from Excel or Google Sheets, or plain lines of text.
- 2The tool detects the format from the first line and shows the column and row count it found.
- 3Choose Markdown or CSV as the output format using the toggle.
- 4For markdown output, pick left, center, or right alignment to add the matching separator markers.
- 5Copy the formatted result with one click. Nothing leaves your browser.
Worked example
Aligning a messy, unpadded table
Paste `Name|Role|Team` with rows `Alice|Engineer|Platform`, `Bo|Designer|Growth`, and `Priya|PM|Platform` (no padding, no separator row). The tool returns a valid table with the header, a separator row, and the three data rows, each column padded to its widest value: 5 characters for Name, 8 for Role, 8 for Team. Switching the output to CSV instead produces `Name,Role,Team` followed by the three rows, comma-separated with no padding.
Methodology & privacy
Format detection looks at the first non-blank line: a tab means a TSV paste from Excel or Google Sheets, a pipe means a markdown table (with or without outer pipes; an existing alignment separator row of dashes and colons is recognized and dropped), a comma means CSV, and no delimiter at all is treated as one bare value per line, a single-column table. Rows are padded or truncated to the header's column count. Markdown output follows the GitHub Flavored Markdown table spec: every cell, including the header, is padded to its column's widest value (minimum 3 characters, so the separator row is always valid), with left, center, or right alignment markers added when a column alignment is chosen. CSV output follows RFC 4180: a field is wrapped in double quotes only if it contains a comma, a double quote, or a line break, and an embedded double quote is escaped by doubling it.
- Source: GitHub Flavored Markdown Spec, Tables extension
- Source: RFC 4180, Common Format for CSV Files
- Source: Obsidian Forum: auto-format tables, add padding to cells for plain-text reading
This tool runs entirely in your browser. The table you paste, and the formatted result, never leave your device, nothing is uploaded or logged.
FAQ
How do I align a markdown table online?
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Paste the table into the box above. The tool pads every cell to its column's widest value and adds a valid separator row automatically. Pick a per-column alignment (left, center, or right) from the Align dropdown to add the matching alignment markers, then copy the result.
How do I convert CSV to a markdown table?
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Paste comma-separated values into the box. The tool auto-detects CSV from the first line, so switching the output toggle to Markdown gives you a padded, GitHub-flavored table right away. Quoted fields containing commas or double quotes parse correctly.
Can I paste a table copied from Excel or Google Sheets?
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Yes. Excel and Google Sheets copy cells as tab-separated values. The tool detects the tab character on the first line and parses it as a table automatically, with no manual cleanup needed.
Why do markdown tables get messy every time I edit them?
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Because every cell in a plain-text markdown table has to line up with every other cell in its column, one longer value in any row throws off the whole table's alignment. That is why editing tables by hand in plain text is tedious and hard to track changes in. This tool re-pads the whole table in one pass instead of you doing it by hand.
Does this tool upload my table anywhere?
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No. Parsing and formatting run entirely in your browser using JavaScript. The table text never leaves your device or touches a server.
What if my table only has one column?
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A single column, or a plain list of lines with no delimiter at all, is treated as a one-column table: the first line becomes the header and each remaining line becomes a row, then it pads and formats the same way as any other table.
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