Markdown Table to CSV Converter
Convert a Markdown table (`| col1 | col2 |`) into CSV or TSV. Handy for pulling tables exported from GitHub Wiki, Notion, or Confluence into Excel or a spreadsheet. Conversion runs entirely in your browser; no data is sent to a server.
| Output delimiter |
|
|---|---|
| Include the header row in the output |
Enter a Markdown table to see the generated CSV here.
How a Markdown table row maps to a CSV row
| One Markdown row | | name | age | city | |
|---|---|
| Resulting CSV row | name,age,city |
The delimiter row right after the header (`---`, `:---`, `:---:`, or `---:`) is skipped rather than treated as data. Any escaped pipe (`\|`) inside a cell is restored to a plain "|" character.
What is a Markdown table to CSV conversion?
A table you built in a documentation tool is easy to read on the page, but the moment you want to sum a column or sort by a value, you need it inside a spreadsheet instead. This tool parses Markdown table syntax and rewrites it as CSV or TSV, automatically detecting and discarding the delimiter row that sits just below the header so it never ends up as a stray data row.
It follows GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM), so both the fully piped style — `| a | b |` — and the style that drops the leading and trailing pipes are accepted equally. Any cell value containing a comma or a double quote is wrapped in quotes automatically, per standard CSV rules, so nothing gets misread as a column break once it lands in a spreadsheet. If the parser can't find a delimiter row, the input isn't treated as a table at all, which keeps the tool from guessing at malformed input.
How to turn a Markdown table into CSV
- Paste in the Markdown table Copy the table straight out of your document, delimiter row and all, and paste it into the input box without editing it first.
- Pick an output delimiter Choose comma-separated CSV or tab-separated TSV. TSV tends to survive a direct paste into a spreadsheet with fewer misaligned columns.
- Decide what to do with the header row If you'd rather manage the header separately, turn off "Include the header row in the output" and only the data rows will come through.
- Copy the result or save it Copy the converted text straight into a spreadsheet, or save it as a `.csv` file and import it wherever you need the data next.
Tips for getting more out of it
- The delimiter row right after the header is detected and skipped automatically, so `---`, `:---` (left), `:---:` (center), and `---:` (right) all convert without issue regardless of alignment.
- Disabling "Include the header row in the output" produces a CSV containing only the data rows, without the header — handy when you want to manage the header separately.
- If a cell value contains a comma or a double quote, it is automatically wrapped in double quotes per CSV rules, with any internal `"` escaped as `""`.
- Pair this with the CSV-to-Markdown-table converter to convert between CSV and Markdown tables as many times as you need.
Where a Markdown-to-CSV conversion comes in handy
Crunching numbers from a documentation table
Move a list you've been maintaining in GitHub Wiki or Notion into a spreadsheet so you can sort it, filter it, or total up a column.
Feeding a README table into a script
Turn a compatibility matrix or a settings reference into CSV so a script can read it directly for validation or to generate other files from it.
Pulling action items out of meeting notes
Convert a Markdown table of open issues from your notes into a format a task tracker or project board is happy to import.
Round-tripping between formats
Pair this with the companion CSV-to-Markdown-table converter and you can start from whichever format you already have and move freely between the two.
Markdown and CSV terms to know
- Table syntax
- The Markdown convention of lining up pipe-separated cells to form a table. Unlike CSV, it includes a header row and a delimiter row as part of the notation itself.
- Delimiter row
- The row of hyphens placed directly under the header row. It renders as a visual rule when displayed, but it carries no data, so this tool skips over it during conversion.
- GFM
- Short for GitHub Flavored Markdown. It also permits table rows that omit the leading and trailing pipe characters, and both styles are supported here.
- TSV
- A tab-separated format. It's a good fit for data whose values already contain commas, and it pastes into spreadsheets with fewer misaligned columns.
- Quoting
- Wrapping a CSV value in double quotes, which becomes necessary whenever that value itself contains a comma or a quote character.
Frequently Asked Questions
Side Note — what actually differs between a Markdown table and a CSV
CSV and Markdown tables are both text-based ways of representing tabular data, but they serve different purposes. CSV is a machine-readable format meant to be read and written by programs — spreadsheets, databases, and the like — while a Markdown table is a documentation-oriented notation that prioritizes letting a human glance at the raw source and still make out roughly what the table looks like.
That's why a Markdown table has concepts CSV lacks: a header row and a delimiter row (`---`). Visually this delimiter row renders as a rule line, but in the source it's nothing more than a run of hyphens — a piece of Markdown-specific notation that exists purely to tell the parser "everything above this is the header, everything below is data."
Wanting to move a table authored in a documentation tool like GitHub Wiki, Notion, or Confluence into a spreadsheet comes up often when tidying up team meeting notes or a README. Having this tool alongside its counterpart — CSV to Markdown table — means you can start from either format and convert without hesitation.