Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Converting a Table into Text.

Converting a Table into Text

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated June 23, 2020)

There may be times when you want to convert an existing table into text. To do this, follow these steps:

Select the entire table you want to convert to text.
If you are using Word 97, choose the Convert Table to Text option from the Table menu. If you are using a later version of Word, choose Convert from the Table menu, then chose Table to Text from the resulting submenu. Either way Word displays the Convert Table to Text dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Convert Table to Text dialog box.

Select the appropriate character that Word should use to separate the columns of text.
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1169) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Converting a Table into Text.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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What is 5 - 4?

2017-01-31 20:22:18

Hamsa

Good

2016-07-14 05:03:07

Caribe1969

It's easy in Office 2013:

1. Select the table
2. Go to the ‘Layout’ tab
3. Choose ‘Convert to Text’ (the dialog box appears to allow you to choose how to separate the data)
4. Click ‘OK’

2016-01-28 15:59:48

Allen

C: This site is for users of older versions of Word. It says that at the beginning of the article, the end of the article, and in the right sidebar.

If you want instructions on how to do this in Word 2013, then click the link to the relevant tip for your version. That link, again, is at both the beginning and the end of the article.

-Allen

2016-01-28 15:58:10

Using Office 2013, your instruction doesn't help me find the Convert table to text. Try again. Please update, otherwise irrelevant site.

2015-11-09 21:17:57

BARB

In Word 2013, there is no link to "convert table to text" in the table menu.

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