Create table in word from text

To convert text to a table or a table to text, start by clicking the  Show/Hide paragraph mark on the Home tab. This lets you see how text is separated in your document.

Convert text to a table

1. Insert separator characters—such as commas or tabs—to indicate where to divide the text into table columns.

   Note: If you have commas in your text, use tabs for your separator characters.

2. Use paragraph marks to indicate where you want to begin a new table row.

   In this example, the tabs and paragraph marks will produce a table with 3 columns and 2 rows:

   

3. Select the text that you want to convert, and then click Insert > Table > Convert Text to Table.

   

4. In the Convert Text to Table box, choose the options you want.

   

   Under Table size, make sure the numbers match the numbers of columns and rows you want.

   Under AutoFit behavior, choose how you want your table to look. Word automatically chooses a width for the table columns. If you want a different column width, choose one of these options:

   To do this	Choose this option
   Specify a width for all the columns	In the Fixed column width box, type or select a value.
   Resize the columns to fit the width of the text in each column	AutoFit to contents
   Resize the table automatically in case the width of the available space changes (for example, web layout or landscape orientation)	AutoFit to window

   Under Separate text at, choose the separator character you used in the text.

5. Click OK. The text converted to a table should look something like this:

   

Convert a table to text

1. Select the rows or table you want to convert to text.

2. On the Layout tab, in the Data section, click Convert to Text.

   

3. In the Convert to Text box, under Separate text with, click the separator character you want to use in place of the column boundaries. Rows will be separated by paragraph marks.

4. Click OK.

Insert and Edit a Table with Multiple Columns and Rows in Word

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated August 23, 2022

Applies to: Microsoft^® Word^® 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365 (Windows)

You can create a table in a Word document in 4 easy ways using the Ribbon. A table is a grid made up of columns and rows that intersect to form cells. You can insert text, numbers and images in a table. Once you have inserted a table, you can easily add and resize columns and rows and change table formatting.

It’s best to avoid using Draw Table to create a table since the table may not be created in a consistent way.

Note: Buttons and Ribbon tabs may display in a different way (with or without text) depending on your version of Word, the size of your screen and your Control Panel settings. For newer versions of Word, Ribbon tabs may appear with different names. For example, the Table Design tab may appear as Table Tools Design.

In the following example, a table with 4 columns and 5 rows has been inserted in a Word document:

Recommended article: 10 Microsoft Word Shortcuts for Moving Around in Tables

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Create a table using the Table Grid

To insert a table using Insert Table and select columns and rows in the Table Grid:

1. Click in the Word document where you want to insert a table.
2. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Table in the Tables group. A drop-down menu appears with a Table Grid.
4. Hover over the grid until the number of columns and rows you want is selected.
5. Click in the highlighted area of the grid to insert a table.

To insert a table, select cells in the Table Grid as follows:

Create a table using the Insert Table dialog box

To insert a table using the Insert Table dialog box:

1. Click in the Word document where you want to insert a table.
2. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Table in the Tables group. A drop-down menu appears.
4. Select Insert Table. A dialog box appears.
5. Enter the number of columns and rows you want to create.
6. Select the desired options below AutoFit behavior (typically Fixed column width: Auto).
7. Click OK.

The Insert Table dialog box appears with options to select the number of columns and rows:

Create a table using Quick Tables

To insert a table using Quick Tables:

1. Click in the Word document where you want to insert a table.
2. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Table in the Tables group. A drop-down menu appears.
4. Select Quick Tables. A gallery appears.
5. Click the table you want to insert.

Quick Tables appear in the Table drop-down menu:

Create a table by converting text to a table

If you have used tabs or other delimiters in paragraphs, you can convert the data into a table (if the delimiters are entered consistently). Wherever you have pressed Enter or Return to create a new paragraph, Word will create a new table row. You can use various delimiters to separate data but the most common are tabs, spaces or commas.

To convert delimited data to a table:

1. Select the text that you want to convert.
2. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Table in the Tables group. A drop-down menu appears.
4. Select Convert Text to Table. A dialog box appears.
5. Enter the number of columns if necessary and ensure a delimiter is selected in the Separate text at area.
6. Under AutoFit behavior, choose how you want your table to appear. Word chooses a width for the table columns by default. If you want a different column width, choose AutoFit to contents or AutoFit to window.
7. Click OK.

In the Convert Text to Table dialog box, enter the number of columns as well as the delimiter:

Show table gridlines

Gridlines show the cell boundaries of a table on screen if table borders are not applied. Gridlines appear only on the screen and are not printed.

Gridlines are not visible when you view a document in a Web browser or in Print Preview.

To show table gridlines in a Word document:

1. Click in a table.
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Table group, check View Gridlines.

View Gridlines appears on the Table Tools Layout or Table Layout tab in the Ribbon:

Move around in a table

You can use the following keys to move from one cell to another in a table:

• Tab to move to the next cell to the right.
• Shift-Tab to move to the cell to left.
• Ctrl-Tab to tab within a cell.

Add a row or a column

To add a row in a table:

1. Click in a cell that is located above or below where you want to add a row.
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. To add a row above the cell you clicked in, click Insert Above in the Rows and Columns group. To add a row below the cell you clicked in, in the Rows and Columns group, click Insert Below.

The commands to insert rows or columns appear on the Table Tools Layout or Table Layout tab in the Ribbon:

You can also right-click in a row and choose Insert from the drop-down menu and insert options from the sub-menu.

If you click in the last cell in a table and press Tab, Word will automatically add a row.

To add a column in a table:

1. Click in a cell that is located to the right or left of where you want to add a column.
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. To add a column to the left of the cell you clicked in, click Insert Left in the Rows and Columns group. To add a column to the right of the cell you clicked in, in the Rows and Columns group, click Insert Right.

You can also right-click in a row and choose Insert from the drop-down menu and insert options from the sub-menu.

Delete a column or row

To delete a row or column:

1. Select the row or column (drag over the cells or click to the left of a row or above a column when the arrow appears).
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Rows & Columns group, click Delete. A drop-down menu applears.
4. Click Delete Rows or Delete Columns as appropriate.

You can also right-click in a row or column and choose Delete from the drop-down menu and delete options from the sub-menu.

Change column width

To change column width:

1. Select the column or columns you want to change.
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Properties in the Table group. You can also right-click and choose Properties from the drop-down menu. A dialog box appears.
4. Click the Column tab.
5. Check Preferred Width.
6. Type the new measurement for the column width. For example, typer 1.0″ or click the up and down arrows.
7. Click OK.

The Table Properties dialog box appears as follows with the Column tab selected:

You can also drag the right line of a column to resize it.

Change row height

To change row height:

1. Select the row or rows you want to change.
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Properties in the Table group. You can also right-click and choose Properties from the drop-down menu. A dialog box appears.
4. Click the Row tab.
5. Check Specify Height.
6. Type the new measurement for the row height. For example, type 1.0″ or click the up and down arrows.
7. Specify row height as At Least or Exactly.
8. Click OK.

The Table Properties dialog box appears as follows with the Row tab selected:

You can also drag the bottom line of a row to resize it.

Distribute rows and columns evenly

To distribute rows and columns evenly:

1. Select the entire table by clicking the four-arrows that appear on the top left of the table.
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Distribute Rows and / or Distribute Columns in the Cell Size group.

Apply a table style

To apply a table style:

1. Click in the table.
2. Click the Table Design or Table Tools Design tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click a table style or click the More arrow to display the Table Styles gallery and click a style.

Table Styles gallery appears on the Table Tools Design or Table Design tab in the Ribbon:

To learn more about working with table styles, check out the article How to Format Microsoft Word Tables Using Table Styles (Ultimate Guide).

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More resources

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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Converting Text Into a Table.

There are two major ways you can create tables in Word. One way is to create a blank table by any of the various methods provided by Word (such as drawing the table or using the Insert Table tool). The other method is to convert existing text into a table. To convert text into a table, follow these steps:

1. Make sure the text that is to be converted into the table contains only a single tab character between each column.
2. Select the text you want converted into a table.
3. Display the Insert tab of the ribbon.
4. Click the Table tool and then click Convert Text to Table. Word displays the Convert Text to Table dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Convert Text to Table dialog box.

5. Make sure all the table settings in the dialog box are correct.
6. Click OK.

The selected text is immediately converted into a table. In some instances, the width of columns in the resulting table may need to be adjusted. You will know if this is the case because the table will look very strange. Sometimes you can get files from programs such as a spreadsheet that use commas to separate columns. Word will also convert this comma-separated text to a table.

Author Bio

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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You may have had to transfer text in paragraph form into a table. This manual process can be automated with the help of Microsoft Word’s Convert text to table feature.

How the Convert Tool Works

The convert tool will transform each line break of your text into a row of the new table. Each row will further be split into columns based on the concept of a delimiter. A delimiter is a character or section of the document that marks a specific part of the text. In this particular case, the delimiter would mark the start of a new column. Common delimiters are new paragraphs, commas, tabs, or spaces.

When the convert tool is started, it will prompt you to specify your delimiter character. For example, in the following paragraph I have chosen a blank space to be my delimiter. Therefore, the paragraph would be split into two rows and three columns as shown below. It is split into two rows because of the line break after «Jersey». It will be split into four columns because of the single spaces between each of the four words on each line.

The line in your text that contains the most delimiters will determine how many columns are in your table. Any lines that contain less delimiters will not completely fill their particular row. For example, the following text would result in the table below:

How To Use the Convert Tool

Follow along with these steps to learn how to use the feature.

1. Open Microsoft Word and highlight the text you wish to convert into a table.

2. Select the Insert tab and choose Convert Text to Table… from the Table dropdown.

3. The following window will appear. Is is okay to leave the Table size and AutoFit behavior options at their default values. Make sure you choose the appropriate delimiter character from the Separate text at options. In this case, I separated by columns with a blank space, so I’ve chosen Other and typed a blank space into the box.

4. Click OK to complete the process.

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Converting Text Into A Table format can help you better organise your data for people reading it.

It also allows you to easier transfer your data between Word and Excel, making it great for any user of both.

If you are learning either software you can view our Excel Course Offerings or Word Course Offerings here.

Converting Your Text To A Table – Simple Example

When Converting your text to a table, you need to first have some text in Word. Here you can see my text, under the title “Alpheius Global Enterprises”.

To convert text into a table the text needs to be in columns using some sort of separator – for example a tab, hyphen, comma or other symbol. My text specifically is seperated by tabs and has 4 columns (this will be important later).

• Highlight the piece of text to be converted into a table format.
• In the Insert ribbon there is a table button.
• Click on the table button and convert text to table.

• A dialog box will appear asking how many columns you want, how you want the text to fit and what are the separators used in your document
• Choose the number of columns required, fixed column width and our document has tabs which are separating the text then click OK.
• Your document will now be in a table format.

After selecting your options hit OK. For this example I chose 4 columns as you can see from the inital data, as well as that they are seperated by tabs. For your data you will want to specify differently based on your own data. After hitting OK you should see the results immediately. Below you can see my data changed into a table!

If you want to learn more about Tables and how they can be formatted, read our guide on  columns for a newsletter in Word.

Why Convert Between Table And Text?

Going between tables and texts allows you simply to have different types of visual representation.

Ultimately the choice will be up to your discretion but follow these brief guidelines!

If you are doing a presentation based more on raw statistics and important facts maybe a table is more suitable. Tables are more analytical in nature and tend to lend themselves more to situations that are more formal and possibly educational (for example sending your coworker a plan for your business).

If you want to do a more graphically appealing layout maybe the raw text with some formatting is more appropriate (more on Font Formatting In Excel here). Text tends to be better for more informal presentations, and in general for a more casual audience (for example just sending a friend over some information found).

Converting From Table To Text

You can now also convert your table back to text if need be!

• First off just highlight the table using the table highlight option in the top right corner of the table
• Go to the Table Tools and select the layout ribbon
• In the data group at the end of the ribbon you will find the command convert to text

•  The convert to text dialog box will appear.  Use the tab option as this will keep your text in similar columns to your table

This will take your text back to it’s original form. Whichever you decide, Table or Text, you can save either for later use – read our guide here on How to Create and Use Building Blocks in Word.

Conclusion:

This guide has given you the tools on how to convert text into a Word table and a Word table back into text. Becoming proficient in these simple tools will help greatly when presenting your work, as well as when trying to move your work between Word and Excel. Try and experiment with these different types of representation to see what fits you best – but follow our rough guidelines if you are in need of guidance.