Plain Text Table Generator
CSV or spreadsheet cells to an aligned ASCII or box-drawing text table.
About this tool
Paste comma, semicolon or tab-separated data, or cells copied straight from Excel or Google Sheets. The tool builds a neatly aligned text table. Choose the style (ASCII +---+, box ┌─┐, rounded ╭─╮, double ╔═╗ or plain spaces), mark the first row as a header and right-align number columns. Quoted values containing commas are handled. Copy the result. Nothing is stored.
Where plain-text tables are useful
Sometimes HTML or Markdown tables aren't an option: code comments, README files viewed as plain text, terminal and log output, plain-text emails, commit messages, SQL comments, chat apps without table support and old-school forums. A text table uses only characters, so it shows the same anywhere a monospaced font is used. ASCII style (+, - and |) works everywhere, even in the most basic terminals. Box-drawing characters (┌─┬┐│) look cleaner and are supported by almost all modern systems. Plain style aligns columns with spaces and a dashed header rule, like many command-line tools. Right-aligning number columns makes figures easy to compare, as in the example's user counts and prices. Honest limits: alignment depends on a monospaced font. Wide characters, including most emoji and Chinese, Japanese and Korean text, often take two columns, so tables containing them may look slightly uneven. Proportional fonts, as in many email clients by default, will misalign any text table. For web pages, use a real HTML table instead. The Markdown table generator, the HTML table generator and the NDJSON converter are related, and CSV vs Excel: what each file really contains, and what breaks in between explains CSV files.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a table in plain text?
Paste your data here, choose a style and copy the aligned table. It works in code, terminals and plain-text emails.
Can I paste from Excel or Google Sheets?
Yes. Copied cells are tab-separated and are detected automatically.
Why does my table look misaligned?
Text tables need a monospaced font. Emoji and CJK characters can also be double-width.
Is my data stored?
No. It's processed in your browser and never saved or sent.