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

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 4, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Filling Table Cells with Sequential Numbers

Excel makes it very easy to add sequential numbers to a range of cells. Not so in Word's tables, where adding such ...

Discover More

Style Names Can Affect Style Definitions

Most people think that you can name styles almost anything you want. You can, but there may be some unintended ...

Discover More

Swapping Two Strings

Strings are used quite frequently in macros. You may want to swap the contents of two string variables, and you can do so ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Repeating Column Information on Each Page

When your table occupies lots of pages, you may want to have information in a particular column repeated on each page. ...

Discover More

Picking a Contiguous Range of Table Cells

Creating a table in Word is a relatively simple task. When you want to format or edit information in the table, often the ...

Discover More

Expanding Width of All Tables

If you have a lot of tables in your documents, you might want to change the width of all of them. You can take forever ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is six minus 3?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.