Converting Text to Table in Microsoft Word

Many a time, we have existing text that we want to display as a table. One way to do it is by creating a table and then manually inserting the data. Instead of this manual process, we can use Microsoft Word’s Convert Text to Table tool that converts existing text into a table.

The Convert Text to Table feature splits the selected text into:

• rows at each paragraph break
• columns based on the delimiter used to separate content in each row.

A delimiter, in this context, is a unique character used to indicate the end of one column and the start of the next. Any character that is not a part of the content can be used as a delimiter.

For example, let’s convert the following text sample into a table:

Preparing the text for conversion

For the text to be converted into a table, it has to be formatted in a way that the row and column data is identified correctly.

1. Marking the end of each row.

   By default, Microsoft Word interprets one paragraph as one row of the table. In Microsoft Word, pressing the <Enter> key marks the end of a paragraph.

   Note: To see non-printing characters (spaces, paragraph marks, tabs, etc.), in the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Show/Hide ().

   

   The at the end of each line indicates a paragraph break or that an <Enter> has been pressed here. We can see that there are four paragraph marks, indicating that your text will generate a table consisting of four rows. The dots represent spaces. 

   In our example, we can see that there are four paragraph marks, indicating that your text will generate a table consisting of four rows.
    
   

2. Adding Delimiters to Mark the Start of Columns
   In our example, name has to be in one column while age has to be in the second column. So, in each row, we will add a delimiter between the name and the age.

   Note: Since the names in our example have a space as a part of the content, we cannot use a spaces as a delimiter. We will use a hyphen (-) as the delimiter.

   • In the sample content, we delete the space between the name and the age and replace it with a hyphen (-). 
     

Converting text to table

1. Ensure the text is ready for conversion.
2. Select the text that you want to convert into a table.
3. On the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click Table.
4. In the displayed Insert Table menu, click Convert Text to Table.
   
   
5. In the Convert Text to Table dialog box, under Table size:
   1. Note that Number of rows is auto populated based on the number of paragraph breaks in the selected text. This field cannot be edited.
   2. Under Separate text at, select the delimiter that was used to indicate where the new column must start. We have used hyphens as our delimiters.
      1. Select Other.
      2. Type a hyphen in the text box next to it.
         
   3. Click OK. The selected text is converted into a table.