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Excel to Text

Turn a spreadsheet into plain text.

  • Free
  • No signup
  • Nothing uploaded
  • No watermark

Drop a file here

Excel file (.xlsx or .xls) · read on your device, never uploaded

Every sheet becomes a table, with the first row used as the header. Formulas are kept as the numbers they show now.

Processed entirely on your device. Nothing was uploaded.

How to Convert Excel to Text Online

Excel to Text: before and after XLS A XLS FILE EXCEL TO TEXT TXT A TXT FILE

Drop in an .xlsx or .xls and get a .txt with the cell values written out as text, sheet by sheet. Formulas are replaced by their values, colours and column widths disappear, and a multi-sheet workbook gets the sheet name as a heading above each block. A preview shows the first lines before you download, so a missing table is visible before it is a problem.

Turns a spreadsheet into plain text. Strips all formatting, formulas and structure, leaving the values — which is what an import into an older system usually wants.

No software to install Free Works on any device

Step-by-Step Guide to Convert Excel to Text

  1. 1. Drop your XLSX, XLS file in, or click to choose one

  2. 2. Set the options if the defaults do not suit you

  3. 3. Press the button — Excel to Text runs in your browser and the result downloads straight to your device

No .xlsx file to hand? Download a sample Excel file (21.6 KB) and try it.

Try it now

What is Excel to Text Conversion?

Turns a spreadsheet into plain text. Strips all formatting, formulas and structure, leaving the values — which is what an import into an older system usually wants.

XLSX files

.XLSX .XLS

Turn a spreadsheet into plain text.

At a glance

  • Takes: .xlsx, .xls
  • Gives: A .txt file of values, one block per sheet
  • Multi-sheet: Each sheet name becomes a heading above its table
  • Loses: Formatting, formulas, merged cells, charts
  • Preview: Blocks, headings and tables counted before download
  • Runs: Converted in your browser; the workbook is never uploaded

Why Use Excel and CSV Tools?

Data rarely arrives in the shape you need: one colleague sends CSV, a website gives JSON and the system wants Excel. These tools convert, merge, split and clean sheets so the rows are ready to use.

“Clean data first, and the analysis gets much easier.”
  • Any sheet into any format
  • Many workbooks in one
  • Columns picked and sorted
  • Help writing formulas
  • Duplicate rows removed
  • Large sheets split into parts
  • Tables ready for websites
  • Customer lists kept private

Popular Uses for Spreadsheet Converters

Spreadsheet chores are the same in every office, and these handle the dull ones.

  • Cleaning contact lists Remove duplicate rows from a customer or student list before sending a mailer.
  • Combining monthly sheets Join twelve monthly Excel files into one workbook for the yearly total.
  • Data for web apps Turn a sheet of products into JSON for a website or mobile app.
  • Opening exported JSON Turn a JSON or XML export from an online system into a readable Excel sheet.
  • Sharing some rows Split a large file so each branch or teacher gets only their own rows.
  • Tables for web pages Convert a CSV into an HTML or Markdown table to paste into a blog post.
  • Picking columns Keep only the name, phone and email columns from a long export.
  • Filtering and sorting Show only the rows for one city or date range, then sort them.

What the Excel to Text Converter Does

Accepts XLSX, XLS

Reads XLSX and writes TXT

Says plainly where the result approximates rather than reproduces

Cell types are carried across — a number stays a number and a date stays a date

Quoting, delimiters and encoding follow RFC 4180, so Excel opens the result without mangling it

Why Use ToolXkit for Excel to Text?

Your files stay with you

Everything runs inside your browser. Nothing you open or type is uploaded to a server.

Data Tools for Different Users

Small businesses

Tidy stock lists and customer records without buying extra software.

Teachers

Split class marks by section and remove repeated student entries.

Data analysts

Switch quickly between CSV, Excel, JSON and XML while preparing a dataset.

Developers

Turn spreadsheets from clients into JSON or YAML that code can read.

Marketing teams

Clean and merge lead lists gathered from different forms and events.

HR teams

Filter employee lists and share only the columns each manager needs.

Best Times to Clean Up a Spreadsheet

These tools earn their place when you are:

  • Importing contacts into a new system
  • Preparing a mailing list
  • Merging reports from several branches
  • Handing data to a developer
  • Publishing a table online
  • Opening a file Excel will not read
  • Splitting a sheet for different teams
  • Checking a list for repeats

Tips and Good to Know

  1. Plain text has no columns. If the target system needs delimiters it can parse, use Excel to CSV instead.

  2. Charts, images and comments are not text and are left out entirely.

  3. The result is approximate by design: it reproduces the values, not the sheet. A layout built with blank cells will not survive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to common questions about this tool.

Do I need to install anything to convert Excel to Text?

No. Excel to Text runs entirely in your browser — there is nothing to download, no extension and no desktop program. It works the same on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iPhone.

Is it safe to convert Excel to Text online?

Safer than the usual alternative, yes. Most online tools upload your file to a server you know nothing about, where it sits until someone deletes it. Here the file never leaves your device — the processing happens in the page itself, so there is no server copy to leak, retain or sell.

Can Excel to Text handle files with thousands of rows?

Usually, yes. Sheets with thousands of rows work well on most devices. Very large files depend on your computer’s memory, so a laptop copes better than an older phone.

Will formulas survive the conversion?

Formats like CSV, JSON and XML store values, not formulas, so a converted file holds the calculated results. Keep your original workbook if you will need the formulas again.

Why do dates or leading zeros look wrong afterwards?

Spreadsheet programs sometimes guess that a phone number or ID is a number and drop its leading zeros, or read a date in the wrong order. Check those columns, and format them as text in Excel if needed.

Further reading

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