We have designed this Microsoft Excel to Text converter to allow for easy copy and pasting of Excel columns and rows, with some neat features:
- The converter will calculate the correct spacing around all cell values so that when pasted to a text editor or program, the columns will still visually align
- You can select different types of borders:
UTF-8, which provides a more visually attractive border pattern
ASCII, which will work in all text editors even if they don't support UTF letter encoding
Hidden, where no borders will be shown, but the columns will still align
Table, where the top row is considered to be a header and with no top, bottom or intra-line borders
- You can preview the converted text data, or use the easy 'Copy' button to simply copy the data to your clipboard
We hope that you find this tool useful. Of course, we offer it for free - we just ask that you pay it forward and help those around you.
Why we built an Excel to Text Converter
An Excel to text converter that preserves data and column border formatting is a crucial tool for data presentation and transfer. When dealing with large datasets, maintaining the visual structure is vital for readability and interpretation. A well-formatted text table allows viewers to quickly scan, understand relationships between different data points, and draw insights, similar to how they would with a spreadsheet.
However, when simply copying and pasting data from Excel into text editors like Notepad, the spatial integrity of the data can be lost. Text editors do not inherently recognize or preserve the tabular format of a spreadsheet. Without borders or clear delimitation, columns can merge into a single, indistinguishable block of text, which makes the data difficult to read and analyze.
This is where an Excel to text converter with ASCII and UTF-8 encoding options becomes essential. ASCII encoding provides a set of common character representations that include symbols for drawing tables with lines and intersections, making it possible to create a visual separation of data similar to that in Excel. UTF-8, a more modern encoding format, supports a wider range of characters, including various box-drawing characters that can be used to form table borders. This results in a clean, organized representation of data that maintains the visual layout of the original spreadsheet.
By using such encoding standards to preserve the cell borders as textual characters, the converter ensures that the structure of the Excel table is retained when the data is viewed as plain text. This means that even if the data is opened in a basic text editor without advanced formatting capabilities, the table's layout remains intact, facilitating easy reading and comprehension.