Markdown table to Excel with Chat Export
The page opens with a Markdown table of orders that includes a cell with an escaped pipe, right-aligned number columns and order IDs with leading zeros. Tap Excel to get a sheet where each cell is in its own column and the totals are numbers.
- Paste the table, including the header row and the |---| separator line.
- Check the preview grid: each column should line up.
- Tap Excel to save the .xlsx file.
- Open it and confirm the number columns sum correctly.
What to know
A Markdown table needs a header row, a separator row of dashes (with optional colons for alignment) and one line per row. A literal pipe inside a cell is written as \|; the converter turns it back into a | in the cell instead of splitting the column. Bold, italic, code and link marks inside cells are removed so the spreadsheet holds plain values.
Values are typed one cell at a time. Plain numbers, numbers with thousands separators, amounts with a $, €, £ or ₹ sign and percentages become numbers with a matching display format. Leading-zero IDs, long digit strings, phone numbers and dates stay text, because Excel would otherwise drop the zeros, round the digits or reinterpret the date in another order.
Rows with fewer cells than the header are padded with empty cells; extra cells beyond the header are dropped, the same way Markdown renderers treat them. The sheet gets a bold header row that stays visible while scrolling, a filter on the header and column widths that fit the content.
Updated · Cosmovex
Questions
How do I keep a | character inside a cell?
Write it as \| in the Markdown table. The converter puts a plain | into that cell.
Why did 007 not become 7?
Values with leading zeros are treated as identifiers and stored as text, so they keep their zeros.
Does column alignment carry over?
Alignment colons in the separator row affect the Word and PDF output. In Excel, numbers are right-aligned and text left-aligned by Excel itself.
Can I convert several tables at once?
Free saves one table per file (pick it under Options). Pro saves every table in one workbook with a sheet each.
The free plan covers everything on this page. Chat Export Pro ($9.50 until Oct 25, then $19, paid once) is described on the Chat Export page.
