Excel to Text
Convert Excel (.xlsx) files into clean readable text.
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User Guide
Upload the workbook
.xls or .xlsx, up to 10 MB. The conversion runs on a server because reading the Excel format needs a library a browser does not carry.
Convert
Cell values are written out row by row, with columns kept separate so the shape of the sheet survives in the text.
Download the .txt
Plain UTF-8, which opens anywhere and pipes cleanly into scripts, diffs and search tools.
Expect values, not formulas
A cell containing =SUM(A1:A9) exports as its result, not the formula. Text captures what a sheet says, not how it computes it.
Check wide sheets
A sheet with many columns produces long lines. Turn off word wrap in your editor before deciding the output is wrong.
Need structured data instead?
For anything a program will parse, Excel to CSV is the better target — it keeps field boundaries explicit.
About the Excel to Text Converter
This tool reads an Excel workbook and writes its contents as plain text. It exists for the situations where a spreadsheet is the wrong container: a system that only accepts text, a pipeline that has to grep it, a diff between two versions, an archive that must stay readable.
What survives the conversion
| Result | |
|---|---|
| Cell values | Preserved |
| Row and column order | Preserved |
| Formulas | Replaced by their calculated result |
| Number formatting | Lost — the underlying value is written |
| Colours, fonts, borders | Lost |
| Charts and images | Lost |
| Comments and notes | Not included |
The formula behaviour is worth dwelling on, because it is occasionally the whole reason to do this. A workbook full of interlinked formulas is opaque; the same workbook as text is a flat record of what the numbers actually were on the day it was exported. For an audit trail or an archive that is often exactly what you want.
Text or CSV?
They look similar and serve different purposes.
Plain text is for humans and for tools that scan lines — searching, diffing, logging, pasting into a ticket. It is readable at a glance.
CSV is for programs. It has strict rules about field separators and quoting, so a parser can reliably tell where one value ends and the next begins even when a value contains a comma. If anything downstream will read the file automatically, use Excel to CSV instead.
Practical notes
Wide sheets make long lines. Thirty columns produce a line hundreds of characters long, which looks like corruption in an editor with word wrap on. Turn wrap off before concluding anything went wrong.
Dates depend on the underlying value. Excel stores a date as a number and displays it according to a format. Export drops the format, so how a date appears depends on how the cell was stored — worth checking a few if dates matter.
Multiple sheets. A workbook with several tabs produces the contents in order. If you need one sheet alone, delete the others in Excel before converting.
Privacy
This conversion runs on a server rather than in your browser, because it needs software a browser does not have. Your file is sent over an encrypted HTTPS connection, converted, and deleted automatically after processing. The upload limit is 10 MB per file.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do formulas come across?
No — each cell exports as its calculated result rather than the formula. For an archive or an audit trail that is usually what you want: a flat record of the actual values.
Should I use this or Excel to CSV?
Text for humans and line-based tools — searching, diffing, pasting into a ticket. CSV for anything a program will parse, because it has strict rules about separators and quoting.
Why are the lines so long?
A sheet with many columns produces one long line per row. That is correct output; it just looks wrong in an editor with word wrap enabled. Turn wrap off.
What happens to my dates?
Excel stores dates as numbers and displays them via a format. Exporting drops the format, so the result depends on how the cell was stored. Check a few if dates matter to you.
Are charts and images included?
No. Only cell values are exported. Charts, images, colours and borders are all presentation, and plain text carries none of it.
What about a workbook with several sheets?
Every sheet is exported in order. If you only want one, delete the others in Excel before converting.
How big a workbook can I convert?
10 MB per file, because this conversion runs on a server rather than in your browser.
Is my workbook stored after conversion?
No. It travels over HTTPS, is converted, and is deleted automatically after processing.