Word Table to Markdown Converter
Copy a table in Word or Google Docs, paste it here, and get a GitHub-ready Markdown table with bold, italics and links kept.
Sample shown — copy your own table and paste to replace it.
Rich table detected: formatting, links and merged cells are read from the copied HTML. Editing this text switches to plain text.
How to convert a Word table to Markdown in 3 steps
Copy the table in Word or Docs
In Word, click inside the table, click the four-arrow handle at its top-left corner to select it, and press Ctrl+C. In Google Docs, drag from the first cell to the last, then copy.
Paste it into the box
Click the box and press Ctrl+V (⌘V on a Mac), or click Paste. The tool reads the rich table on the clipboard, so cell boundaries and formatting come through.
Copy the Markdown
Check the rendered preview, adjust the options if needed, then click Copy Markdown or Download .md.
Example
Requirement Owner Due Notes (header row bold)
Data retention policy Legal 12 Nov Draft in the wiki ("the wiki" is a link)
Security review Ana 30 Nov Blocked on vendor reply
Chase on Monday (two paragraphs)
Launch checklist Raj 5 Dec go-live.md (monospace font)| Requirement | Owner | Due | Notes | | --------------------- | ----: | -----: | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | Data retention policy | Legal | 12 Nov | Draft in [the wiki](https://example.com/policies/retention) | | **Security review** | Ana | 30 Nov | *Blocked* on vendor reply<br>Chase on Monday | | Launch checklist | Raj | 5 Dec | `go-live.md` |
Options explained
- Keep bold, italic & code
- Bold, italic, strikethrough and monospace text become **bold**, *italic*, ~~strike~~ and `code`. Google Docs marks formatting with inline styles instead of tags; those are read too.On (default) · Off
- Keep links
- Hyperlinks with an absolute http(s) or mailto address become [text](url). Off keeps the link text only.On (default) · Off
- Keep images
- Images with an absolute web address become . Pictures embedded in the document have no public address, so they are replaced by their alt text.On (default) · Off
- Drop footnote markers
- Removes reference markers such as [1], [a] and [citation needed] that follow a value. Mostly useful for web tables; harmless for Word.On (default) · Off
- Merged cells
- Markdown tables cannot merge cells. A merged cell is written once and the cells it covered stay blank, or the value is repeated in every covered cell, which keeps each row complete for sorting and filtering.Leave covered cells blank (default) · Repeat the value
- Header
- Markdown always needs a header row. Automatic uses the first row (and any rows made of header cells); "First row" forces it; "None" writes Column 1, Column 2… and keeps every row as data.Automatic (default) · First row · None
- Table, Compact, Caption line
- With several tables on the clipboard, choose one or all. Compact removes the padding spaces. Caption line puts a table caption above the table as a bold line.
Convert to and from other formats
Convert other formats to Markdown
- CSV to Markdown TableConvert CSV text or .csv files, including quoted cells.
- Excel to Markdown TablePaste cells copied from Excel straight into a Markdown table.
- Google Sheets to Markdown TablePaste a copied range or a public sheet URL.
- TSV to Markdown TableConvert tab-separated text into a Markdown table.
- HTML Table to MarkdownConvert <table> markup into a Markdown table.
- JSON to Markdown TableConvert a JSON array of objects into a table.
- SQL to Markdown TableConvert MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite CLI query output.
- Web Table to MarkdownCopy a table from any web page and paste it here.
- Image to Markdown TableTurn a screenshot or photo of a table into Markdown in your browser.
- PDF to Markdown TableExtract a table from a PDF page, with OCR for scans.
- Universal Table to MarkdownPaste anything tabular; the format is detected for you.
Convert Markdown to…
- Markdown Table to CSVExport a Markdown table as RFC 4180 CSV.
- Markdown Table to TSVCopy as tab-separated values that paste cleanly into Excel and Sheets.
- Markdown Table to HTMLExport semantic <table> markup.
- Markdown Table to JSONExport rows as an array of JSON objects.
- Markdown Table to LaTeXExport LaTeX tabular code for papers and Overleaf.
- Markdown Table to SQLGenerate CREATE TABLE and INSERT statements.
- Markdown Table to ExcelDownload a real .xlsx with numbers, bold header and one sheet per table.
- Markdown Table to Google SheetsCopy a table that pastes cleanly into Google Sheets.
- Markdown Table to WordCopy a formatted table into Word or Google Docs, or download .docx.
- Markdown Table to ConfluenceWiki markup, storage format or a rich copy for the Cloud editor.
- Markdown Table to JiraConvert to Jira and Confluence wiki markup.
- Markdown Table to ImageRender the table as a PNG or SVG for slides and posts.
About this tool
Copying a table from Word or Google Docs and pasting it into a Markdown file gives you tabs or a mess. This converter reads the rich table that Word, Google Docs, Outlook and OneNote put on the clipboard, so cell boundaries, bold text, links, line breaks and column alignment survive. Merged cells are flattened because Markdown cannot merge cells, and you choose whether the value is repeated. The conversion runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
- Reads the rich clipboard from Word, Google Docs, Outlook and OneNote
- Bold, italic, strikethrough, code and links kept as Markdown
- Paragraphs and line breaks inside a cell become <br>
- Merged cells flattened, with a choice to repeat the value
- Column alignment (left, center, right) detected
- Pipes in cell text escaped so the table stays intact
- Rendered preview before you copy; edit further in the table editor
- No upload: the clipboard is read in your browser
Technical details
What is on the clipboard when you copy a table
Word, Google Docs and similar apps put several flavors on the clipboard, including text/html with a real <table> and text/plain with tab-separated cells. This tool prefers the HTML because the plain text loses merged cells, bold, links and the line breaks inside a cell. The HTML is parsed with the browser's DOMParser, which does not run scripts or load images.
- Cell content: paragraphs and <br> inside a cell become <br> in Markdown, because a Markdown table row must stay on one line. Bulleted or numbered lists in a cell become a text list separated by <br>.
- Escaping: characters that would turn plain text into Markdown (*, _, `, [ ], <) are backslash-escaped, and pipes are written as \| so a cell can never end early.
- Merged cells: GitHub Flavored Markdown has no colspan or rowspan. Merged ranges are flattened onto a grid before the table is written.
- Google Docs: the copied HTML wraps everything in a bold tag with font-weight:normal and marks real bold with inline styles. The converter honors the explicit weight, so normal text is not made bold.
- Google Docs wraps link addresses in google.com/url?q=… redirects when you copy; the converter unwraps them to the real address.
- Empty rows and columns that only exist because of layout are dropped; blank header cells are named Column 1, Column 2…
Common problems and fixes
Nothing happened when I pasted
Cause: The copy did not include the whole table. Selecting a single cell, or text above the table, copies text without table structure.
Fix: In Word, use the four-arrow handle at the top-left of the table. In Google Docs, drag across all cells. Then paste again, or click Paste.
The header row is not the first row of my table
Cause: Markdown needs exactly one header row; the tool uses the first row unless header cells are marked.
Fix: Choose Header → None to keep every row as data, then name the columns in the table editor.
Merged cells left empty cells
Cause: Markdown cannot merge cells, so the covered cells are written blank.
Fix: Choose Merged cells → Repeat the value to fill them, or rework the Word table to avoid merges before copying.
Pictures are missing
Cause: Images embedded in a Word document have no web address, so there is nothing to link to.
Fix: Upload the picture somewhere public and add  by hand, or keep the alt text.
The paste button asks for permission, or does nothing
Cause: Browsers ask before letting a page read the clipboard, and block it in some embedded or private contexts.
Fix: Click the box and press Ctrl+V (⌘V on a Mac) instead; that path needs no permission.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a Word table to Markdown?
Select the table in Word (click the four-arrow handle at its top-left corner), copy it with Ctrl+C, then paste it into the box on this page. The Markdown table appears next to it, ready to copy.
How do I copy a table from Google Docs into Markdown?
Drag across the cells in Google Docs from the first cell to the last, press Ctrl+C (⌘C on a Mac) and paste into the box on this page. Bold and links come across, and the header row is taken from the first row.
Does it keep bold text, italics and links?
Yes. Bold, italic, strikethrough and monospace text and hyperlinks are converted to Markdown, each with its own switch. A paragraph break inside a cell becomes <br>.
What happens to merged cells in a Word table?
Markdown tables cannot merge cells, so the merge is flattened. The value is written once and the covered cells stay blank, or you can repeat the value with the Merged cells option.
Can I convert a whole .docx file to Markdown here?
No. This page converts tables you copy from a document. For a whole .docx file, a document converter such as Pandoc does that on your computer, for example pandoc input.docx -t gfm -o output.md; its table output depends on how complex the table is.
Why did my table paste as plain text with tabs?
The program you copied from did not put an HTML table on the clipboard, or only part of the table was selected. The tool still splits tab-separated text into columns, but merged cells and formatting are lost. Select the whole table and copy again.
Does it work with Outlook, OneNote and LibreOffice tables?
They put HTML tables on the clipboard in a similar way, so they usually convert. If a paste does not give a table, select the whole table and copy again.
What about images and lists inside cells?
Images with a public web address become Markdown images; embedded pictures are replaced by their alt text. Lists become a text list, one item per line, joined with <br>.
Is my table uploaded to a server?
No. The clipboard is read and converted in your browser. The page does not send the table anywhere.
Can I convert a Markdown table back to Word?
Yes, use the Markdown Table to Word tool: it copies a real table for Word, Google Docs and Outlook, or downloads a .docx file.