Markdown Table Generator
Build a Markdown table by typing into a grid, or paste comma- or tab-separated data. Choose left, centre or right alignment for each column and copy a neatly padded table with a live preview alongside. Pipes inside cells are escaped for you. Free, no sign-up, and everything runs in your browser.
Input mode
The first row is the table header.
Column alignment
Markdown
Live Preview
| Header 1 | Header 2 | Header 3 |
|---|---|---|
How to Use the Markdown Table Generator
- 1. Pick an input mode. Visual grid editor gives you a 3 × 3 grid to type into, with buttons to add or remove rows and columns (at least 2 rows and 1 column). Paste CSV / TSV takes data copied from a spreadsheet or text file.
- 2. Fill in the table. The first row is always the header. In paste mode each line is a row.
- 3. Set the alignment. A drop-down for each column offers Left, Center or Right.
- 4. Copy the Markdown. The padded table appears under Markdown, with a live preview below it. Copy Markdown copies the source.
How a Markdown Table Is Built
Tables are not part of core Markdown or of the CommonMark specification; they come from the GitHub Flavored Markdown spec, which GitHub, GitLab and many documentation tools follow. A table is a header row, a delimiter row, and any number of body rows, with cells separated by pipes. The delimiter row is what makes it a table: each cell is made of hyphens, and colons set the alignment.
| Alignment | Delimiter cell | Text lines up |
|---|---|---|
| Left | :--- | On the left edge |
| Centre | :---: | In the middle |
| Right | ---: | On the right edge — good for numbers |
The header row must have the same number of cells as the delimiter row, or the table is not recognised. A literal pipe inside a cell has to be written \|, which the generator does for you. Cells are single-line text, though inline formatting such as bold or links works inside them, and the table ends at the first blank line.
Worked Example
Paste Name,Role,Score, then Alice,Editor,92, Bob,Writer,7 and C|D,Reviewer,100 as four lines, and set the columns to Left, Center and Right. The result is:
Markdown
| Name | Role | Score | | :---- | :------: | ----: | | Alice | Editor | 92 | | Bob | Writer | 7 | | C\|D | Reviewer | 100 |
Every column is padded to its widest cell so the pipes line up, with a minimum width of three. The source is longer than a table needs to be, but it is readable in a plain-text diff, and it renders identically to an unpadded one. The pipe in C|D has been escaped. If all columns are left at the default, every delimiter cell becomes a left-aligned :----.
Limits of Paste Mode
- Delimiter. The generator tries a comma, a tab and a semicolon on the first few lines and uses the one that splits them into the same number of columns most consistently; a comma wins ties.
- Quoted fields. A field in double quotes keeps its commas, as in
"Smith, J.", and two double quotes in a row become one. A line break inside a quoted field becomes<br>, since a Markdown table cell has to stay on one line. - Alignment uses character count. Wide characters such as CJK text or emoji can make the source look uneven; the rendered table is unaffected.
- Ragged rows are padded with empty cells to the widest row.
Which Tool Do You Need?
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| A Markdown table to paste into a README or wiki | This page |
| To preview CSV or copy it as an HTML table | CSV to Table |
| LaTeX tabular code with booktabs rules | LaTeX Table Generator |
| An APA 7 table for a paper | APA Table Generator |
| Markdown stripped back to plain text | Markdown to Text |
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I create a Markdown table?
- Type your headers and cells into the grid, or switch to paste mode and drop in CSV or tab-separated data. The generator writes the header row, the delimiter row and the body rows, and shows a rendered preview so you can check it.
- How do I set column alignment in a Markdown table?
- Choose Left, Center or Right for the column. The choice is written into the delimiter row with colons:
:---for left,:---:for centre and---:for right. - Can I convert CSV to a Markdown table?
- Yes. Paste comma- or tab-separated lines in paste mode. Quoted fields are handled, so a cell such as "Smith, J." stays in one column, and a line break inside quotes becomes a line-break tag.
- Why are the columns padded with spaces?
- So the pipes line up in plain text. Markdown renderers ignore the extra spaces, and the padded source is much easier to read and edit.
- What happens if my data contains a pipe character?
- It is escaped as
\|so it displays as a pipe instead of starting a new column. - Can I put line breaks or lists in a table cell?
- Not through this tool: cells are single-line. Most renderers accept an inline
<br>tag inside a cell if you add it to the text yourself, but that is a renderer feature, not part of the table syntax. - Is my data uploaded anywhere?
- No. The table is built and previewed in your browser; nothing is sent to CitationEasy.