Excel & CSV to Markdown

Take exactly the part of an Excel workbook or CSV file you need and turn it into Markdown — not the whole file. Pick the sheet and the cells in a live grid, choose the columns, filter the rows, see the Markdown, export. Save the setup as a filter and next time it is one click (plus the values you chose to give each time).

Works offline. The extension makes no network requests, sends no telemetry and never runs formulas or macros: it reads the values Excel saved.

Open a workbook

• In the Explorer, right-click an .xlsx (or .xlsm, .xltx, .xltm), .csv or .tsv file and choose Export to Markdown….
• Or run Excel & CSV to Markdown: Export to Markdown… from the Command Palette.
• Or Open With… → Excel & CSV to Markdown on the file.

Old .xls files need to be saved as .xlsx in Excel first.

Files named ~$… next to a workbook are Excel's temporary lock files, kept while the workbook is open in Excel; they hold no data. Open the workbook itself — the extension offers it when you open a lock file by mistake.

CSV files

A CSV file opens as a workbook with one sheet, named after the file, and everything below works the same — selection, columns, conditions, saved filters. The separator (, ; tab |) and the encoding (UTF-8, UTF-16, or Windows-1250 as Excel saves CSV on Polish Windows) are recognized from the content, and Excel's sep=; first line is honoured. Numbers, dates and TRUE/FALSE are recognized so conditions compare them as such; the text goes into the Markdown exactly as written. A filter saved on one CSV file works on the next one, even when columns were added or moved.

Choose the data

The workbook opens in a grid that works like Excel:

The side panel also offers the sheet's Excel tables and All data on the sheet in one click. Nothing is selected for you: the extension does not assume you want every sheet or the whole used range.

When the first row of the selection holds names, they become the column names. This is detected automatically and can be switched off.

Columns

Tick the columns you want and drag them into the order you want. Columns are known by their header names, not their letters, so the choice still works when columns move around in the workbook.

Row conditions

Add as many conditions as you need and keep the rows that meet all of them, or any of them:

= · ≠ · contains · does not contain · starts with · ends with · > · ≥ · < · ≤ · is empty · is not empty

Comparisons are offered for numbers and dates. The values to choose from are the ones in the column (with how often each occurs); you can tick several, or type one that is not there. Matching ignores case and extra spaces, compares numbers and dates as numbers and dates, and understands TRUE/FALSE, yes/no, tak/nie.

Options

• skip hidden rows, hidden columns and empty rows; leave out empty columns; repeat the value of merged cells;
• values as shown in Excel (number and date formats) or without formats;
• a GFM table or a section per row (the first column is the heading, the others a list);
• a heading: the sheet name, the filter name or your own text;
• line breaks in cells as <br> or spaces; numbers aligned right; the table lined up in the source.

Several ranges become one table when their columns match, or a table each — or as you choose.

Preview and export

The Markdown preview under the grid updates as you click, as Markdown source or rendered. Rows that are left out are struck through in the grid, columns that are left out are dimmed. Then:

• Export .md — save to a file (next to the workbook by default);
• Open in editor — a new unsaved Markdown document;
• Copy — to the clipboard.

Saved filters

Save as filter… stores the whole setup under a name: how the data is found, the columns, the conditions and the options. Filters are global — the same filter works in any project, on the same workbook again or on another one.

Values fixed or given when used

Each condition's value is either:

• Fixed — saved with the filter, e.g. Status ≠ DELETED;
• Ask when used — chosen each time, e.g. System = ?.

Using a filter with no asked values applies it at once. Otherwise a small window shows only the asked fields, each with the values that exist in this workbook (narrowed by the fixed conditions and by what you already chose). Leave a field empty to keep every value. The values given last time are suggested (setting xlsxToMd.rememberValues).

Finding the data again

A filter remembers the sheet, the Excel table and the header names of each range. On another workbook — or the same one after changes — it looks for the sheet by name, then for the sheet that has those headers, and for the range by table name, then by header row. A range that ran to the end of the data keeps doing so (to the end of the data), so rows added later are included. If something cannot be found, a note under the toolbar says what was used instead. Columns that are new in the workbook are listed but not added.

Changing a filter

After applying a filter you can still change anything. The filter is marked modified, and your changes apply to this export only — until you choose Save changes (or Save as new…, or Revert).

Managing filters

Excel & CSV to Markdown: Manage Saved Filters lists the filters with what they do, and lets you rename or delete them. The same list is linked from the extension's Saved filters settings section and from the filter list in the editor.

Settings

The interface follows the editor's language (English and Polish).