Tablizer

Convert CSV to TXT Online

Turn a CSV into aligned plain text, the way a command line tool would print it. Useful for a README, a code comment or an email that has to survive without formatting.

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The output will appear here once there is a table to convert.

What CSV is

CSV is a text file where each line is a row and commas separate the fields. There is no type system, no formatting and no second sheet. Every value is text until something downstream decides otherwise.

Almost every database, analytics tool and spreadsheet can read and write it, which is why exports default to it.

What TXT is

Plain text here means columns lined up with spaces, the way a command line tool prints a table.

Terminal output, log files, fixed-width exports from older systems.

What changes when you convert CSV to TXT

Reading CSV means deciding three things the file does not state: which character separates fields, how quotes work, and what encoding the bytes are in. Tablizer sniffs the delimiter from the first few lines, handles quoted fields containing commas and newlines, and reads the file as UTF-8.

Columns are padded to the widest value. Width is counted in display columns rather than characters, so a table containing Chinese, Japanese or Korean text still lines up: those glyphs occupy two columns in a monospace font.

Commas are replaced by alignment. Every column is padded to the width of its widest value, so the result reads as a table in any monospace font and needs no renderer.

Width is counted in display columns rather than characters. A table with Chinese or Japanese text still lines up, because those glyphs take two columns in a monospace font and counting them as one leaves the grid visibly crooked.

The result is no longer machine readable in the way the CSV was. Converting it back is a guess at where the columns were, which is exactly what the text parser on this site does and exactly why it is not always right.

What carries over from CSV to TXT

One property of the CSV has no home in plain text, and it is worth knowing which before you convert.

A line break inside a cell ends the row in plain text, so line breaks are replaced rather than carried through.

The identifier 007 comes out of the TXT as 007. Reading it as a number would have made it 7, and an id that changes value is worse than one that stays text.

The role "Analyst, data" survives with its comma, in one cell rather than split across two. That is the first thing to check in any converted table, and the usual place a TXT file goes wrong.

The quotes around Jonah "Jo" Pryce are left as a plain quote character in the TXT.

A worked example

Three rows of staff data, with an identifier that has a leading zero, a value containing a comma, a value containing quotes and one blank cell. Those are the four places formats disagree, so they are the four places to look.

CSV in
id,name,role,started,hours
007,Halima Yusuf,"Analyst, data",2024-03-15,38.5
012,"Jonah ""Jo"" Pryce",Engineer,2025-11-02,
104,Wei Chen,Manager,2023-06-30,40
TXT out
id   name              role           started     hours
007  Halima Yusuf      Analyst, data  2024-03-15  38.5
012  Jonah "Jo" Pryce  Engineer       2025-11-02
104  Wei Chen          Manager        2023-06-30  40

Questions

How do I convert CSV to TXT?

Paste your CSV into the box above or drop the file onto it. Check the table in the grid, then copy or download the TXT from the output panel. It takes one step and the data never leaves your browser.

Why does my CSV open with all the data in one column?

The file uses a delimiter your spreadsheet did not expect. Exports from European locales often use semicolons because the comma is the decimal separator there. Change the delimiter in the export options and the columns split correctly.

One of my cells has a line break in it - what happens?

A line break would end the row in plain text, so it is replaced instead of carried through. The rest of the cell stays where it belongs.

Is there a limit on file size?

No. The work happens on your own machine, so the limit is your machine's memory rather than an upload cap. A file with tens of thousands of rows converts in a second or two.

Is my data uploaded anywhere?

No. The parsing and generating are done by JavaScript running on this page. You can watch the network tab while you convert and see that nothing is sent.

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