Text to CSV Converter
Paste or upload any delimited text, list or JSON. Get clean CSV, TSV, pipe, HTML or JSON output in seconds — all in your browser.
A live table preview of your data appears here.
Tip: the output is set to CSV — switch the Output as menu to TSV, pipe, fixed-width, plain text, HTML table or JSON whenever you need a different format.
Convert text to CSV — and nine other formats
The converter above is built around the most common job, text to CSV, but it also exports the formats people search for next, so you rarely need another tool.
TXT to CSV
Upload a .txt file and download a clean CSV.
Open →CSV to Text
Reverse it: turn CSV back into plain or delimited text.
Open →CSV to delimited text
Comma, tab, pipe, space or fixed-width output.
Open →JSON to CSV
Flatten a JSON array of objects into rows.
Open →CSV to HTML table
Generate an HTML <table> you can paste into a page.
Open →Batch convert
Convert up to 50 text files at once.
Open →How to convert text to CSV
Paste or upload
Paste your text or list into the box, or drop a .txt / .csv file. The tool reads it in your browser — nothing is sent to a server.
Check the preview
It auto-detects the delimiter and shows a live table with row and column counts so you can spot problems before downloading.
Download the CSV
Keep the output on CSV (or pick another format) and click Download or Copy. The file lands in your downloads folder instantly.
A complete text and CSV converter
Smart delimiter detection
Automatically recognizes comma, tab, pipe and semicolon, with manual override and fixed-width parsing for aligned columns.
Live table preview
See your data as a grid before you export, including a warning when rows have an inconsistent number of columns.
Excel compatibility
UTF-8 BOM for correct encoding and an Excel-safe option that protects leading zeros and long numbers from reformatting.
Ten output formats
CSV, TSV, pipe, space, semicolon, custom delimiter, fixed-width, plain text, HTML table and JSON — one tool, all formats.
Private by design
All parsing happens locally in your browser. Your text never leaves your device, making it safe for sensitive or confidential data.
Copy, download, history
Copy the result, download a file, or reopen a recent conversion saved locally on your device.
Who uses it — and for what
From quick one-off jobs to daily data workflows, here are the most common scenarios where this converter saves time.
Clean a pasted report
Copy rows from a PDF, email or web table, paste them in, and instantly get a clean CSV ready for Excel or Google Sheets analysis. The live preview catches ragged columns before you import.
Convert a log or config export
Pipe-delimited log files, space-aligned config dumps and JSON API responses all convert in one step. Select the right input format, pick CSV or TSV output, and copy the result straight into your code.
Prepare a contact list import
Turn a plain-text list of names, emails and phone numbers into a structured CSV ready to upload to Mailchimp, HubSpot or Salesforce. Use the header row option to label every column correctly.
Fix bank export formatting
Many bank exports use semicolons or pipe delimiters that Excel misreads. Convert to comma-delimited CSV with UTF-8 BOM and Excel-safe numbers to preserve leading zeros and long account IDs.
Structure a keyword list
Paste a multi-column keyword export from Google Search Console, Ahrefs or SEMrush, detect the delimiter automatically, and download a clean CSV you can sort and filter immediately.
Process fixed-width mainframe files
Legacy ERP and banking systems often output fixed-width text files. Specify the column widths manually and the tool slices every row into proper columns without writing a single line of code.
Output formats explained
Choosing the right output format is the difference between data that just works and a file another program rejects. Here is what each option in the Output as menu produces, and when to use it.
CSV (comma-separated values)
The default and most portable choice. Fields are separated by commas and any field containing a comma, quote or line break is wrapped in double quotes, following the standard CSV rules. CSV opens in Excel, Google Sheets, databases and virtually every data tool.
TSV, pipe, semicolon and custom delimiters
Sometimes your data already contains commas, or a target system expects another separator. Tab-separated (TSV) is the safest for messy text; pipe (|) and semicolon (;) are common in exports and European spreadsheets. Pick Custom delimiter to type any character.
Which delimiter should you pick?
For Excel and Google Sheets
CSV works everywhere; if your locale uses a comma as the decimal mark, semicolon-delimited may import more cleanly. Enable UTF-8 BOM so non-Latin text is read correctly.
For databases and legacy systems
Tab or pipe delimiters avoid clashes with comma-containing values. Many import tools and older systems specifically expect pipe-delimited or fixed-width files.
A note on quotes and encoding
Use Quote all when an importer is strict, or No quotes for the simplest possible output. Keep encoding as UTF-8 to preserve accents and CJK characters.
Fixed-width and plain text
Fixed-width pads every column to a set width so the file lines up in a monospace view — still used in banking and mainframe feeds. Plain text strips structure for a human-readable list, one row or one cell per line.
HTML table and JSON
Generate an HTML <table> to paste straight into a web page, or export JSON (an array of objects keyed by your header row) for APIs and JavaScript. These are the convert csv to html table and json to csv jobs handled on their own pages too.
Popular text and CSV conversions
Each of these has a dedicated, focused tool with examples and tips:
Real situations this solves
- Tidy a copied list. Paste names, emails, addresses or a keyword list and get a structured CSV for a spreadsheet or import tool.
- Reshape an export. Convert a system's CSV into tab, pipe, space or fixed-width text so another tool can read it without writing code.
- Clean scraped or OCR text. Turn pasted, semi-structured text into a table you can analyze in seconds, not minutes.
- Prepare a database import. Standardize many text files into consistent CSV, then load them into a database or BI tool.
- Fix Excel headaches. Keep leading zeros, long IDs and encoding intact when opening CSV in Excel using BOM and Excel-safe number options.
- Convert for APIs. Export as JSON to feed your data directly to an API or JavaScript application without a separate conversion step.
Trusted for quick conversions
"Pasted a 2,000-row list and had a clean CSV in seconds. The Excel-safe option saved my zip codes from becoming scientific notation."
— Data analyst"Finally a converter that doesn't upload my files. The delimiter detection just works and I use the pipe and TSV outputs daily."
— Backend developer"The table preview catches bad rows before I import. Huge timesaver when dealing with messy legacy exports."
— Ops engineerText to CSV converter — frequently asked questions
How do I convert text to CSV?
Paste your text into the converter above (or upload a .txt file), and it instantly detects the delimiter and shows a table preview. Keep the output set to CSV and click Download result or Copy. Everything runs in your browser, so your data is never uploaded.
How do I choose the right delimiter?
Leave the input on Auto-detect and the tool guesses comma, tab, pipe or semicolon from your data. If the columns look wrong, set the input format to Delimited text and pick the delimiter manually, or use Fixed width for space-aligned columns.
Does it support other languages and UTF-8?
Yes. Text is handled as UTF-8, so accents, Chinese, Japanese and other characters are preserved. For Excel, tick UTF-8 BOM so it opens non-Latin characters correctly instead of showing garbled text.
Can it open correctly in Excel?
Yes. Use CSV output and enable UTF-8 BOM for encoding, and Excel-safe numbers to keep leading zeros and long IDs from turning into scientific notation. See fix CSV Excel formatting issues for the full guide.
Is there a file size limit?
There is no hard limit, but very large files depend on your device's memory since everything runs locally. For big jobs see the large text file to CSV converter, and for many files at once use the batch converter.
Can I convert CSV back to text?
Yes — use Swap, or open the CSV to Text and CSV to delimited text tools to export tab, pipe, space or fixed-width text from any CSV.
Is the tool completely free?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no account, no paywall and no file size tier. Every feature is available to everyone. The site is supported by unobtrusive advertising, which keeps it free without restricting any functionality.
What file types can I upload?
You can upload .txt, .csv, .tsv and .json files by clicking the drop zone or dragging a file onto it. You can also paste text directly from the clipboard, including rows copied from Excel, Google Sheets or any web table.
Can I convert JSON to CSV?
Yes. Select JSON as the input format (or leave it on Auto-detect) and the tool flattens a JSON array of objects into CSV rows, one object per row. Nested objects are stringified. For a dedicated view see the JSON to CSV page.
Does it work offline or without internet?
Once the page has fully loaded, the conversion engine works entirely without a network connection. All processing is done in your browser using JavaScript, so you can convert files even on an airplane or with a spotty connection.
What does "Excel-safe numbers" do?
Excel automatically reformats certain values when it opens a CSV: zip codes starting with 0 become plain integers, and long numeric IDs (16+ digits) get converted to scientific notation. Enabling Excel-safe numbers wraps those values in quotes or adds an equals-sign prefix so Excel treats them as text and preserves every digit.
Can I convert a list with one item per line to CSV columns?
Yes. If each line in your list represents a row, paste it in and use Auto-detect — the tool will treat each line as a single-column row. If you want multiple items per row joined by a delimiter, set the output to your preferred format and use the Text columns to CSV tool for more control over multi-column layouts.