Text files that are really tables
Many systems export data as .txt rather than CSV: banking and accounting software, lab instruments, point-of-sale systems, old databases and mainframe reports. The data has rows and columns, but spreadsheets don’t always split it correctly when opening it. Converting to CSV gives you a file that opens straight into the right columns everywhere.
How to use it
- Leave Columns are separated by on automatic, or pick the separator if you know it.
- Choose your text files or drop them on the box above.
- Download the
.csv. The note shows how many rows and columns were found and what separated them, so you can check it at a glance.
Separators it understands
| Your file looks like | Separator | Common source |
|---|---|---|
Name→Qty→Price (invisible tabs) |
Tab | Copying from Excel, database exports, .tsv |
| `Name | Qty | Price` |
Name;Qty;Price |
Semicolon | European software and Excel |
Name Qty Price |
Aligned spaces | Printed reports, Excel .prn files, command output |
Automatic detection looks at the first 60 lines and picks the separator that splits them into the same number of columns most consistently. Single spaces are never treated as separators, because they appear inside normal values like “Apple pie”.
Encoding
Text files come in different character encodings. The converter reads UTF-8, UTF-16 and the older Windows-1252 correctly, and saves the CSV as UTF-8 with a byte-order mark. That marker tells Excel to display accented and non-Latin characters properly instead of garbled symbols.
Privacy
Exports like these often contain transactions, customer details or test results. The file is read and converted in your browser, and the CSV is created on your device. Nothing is uploaded.
Questions
My text file has no commas. Will it still work?
Yes, as long as something separates the columns. Tabs, semicolons, pipes and columns lined up with spaces are all recognised. The converter rewrites them as a standard comma-separated file.
What if every line ends up in a single cell?
That means no consistent separator was found, for example in ordinary prose. If your columns are lined up with spaces, choose "Two or more spaces" in the settings and convert again.
Do values containing commas break the CSV?
No. Any value that contains a comma, a quote mark or a line break is wrapped in quotes, as the CSV standard requires, so it stays in one cell.
Can I convert the CSV to Excel afterwards?
Yes. Use the CSV to Excel converter for an .xlsx workbook with proper numbers. Or open the CSV directly in Excel or Google Sheets.
Last reviewed 3 November 2026