Why does my pasted table look wrong in Excel?

Websites build tables from nested divs, CSS grids and merged cells rather than real markup. When you paste, Excel tries to reconstruct columns from that HTML and often merges everything into one column or drags in hidden styling.

Can I copy a website table into Google Sheets?

Yes — Google Sheets handles HTML table pastes similarly to Excel. For messy tables, the same fix applies: clean the table to structured text or Markdown before pasting.

How to Copy a Table From a Website Into Excel (and Keep It Clean)

Q: How do I copy a table from a website into Excel?

Select the table, copy, and paste into Excel. If formatting breaks, convert the table to Markdown first with a tool like the free Clean Copy extension, then paste the Markdown into Excel via Data > From Text or a Markdown-to-table converter.

Why pasted tables break

Excel expects a grid: rows and cells. Modern websites rarely give it one. Tables are built from nested <div>s, CSS grids, flexbox rows and colspan tricks. When Excel receives the clipboard HTML, it reconstructs columns as best it can — and fails in predictable ways:

Everything lands in one column. Hidden tracking elements become extra blank rows. Cell backgrounds and fonts carry over. Links arrive as full URLs glued to the text. Merged header cells shift every row below them.

Three fixes, ranked by reliability

Fix 1 — Paste directly, then check

If the site uses real <table> markup (Wikipedia, most documentation sites), plain copy-paste into Excel or Google Sheets works. Paste, then scan for merged rows and stray columns. Takes ten seconds when it works — and two minutes of cleanup when it doesn't.

Fix 2 — Convert to Markdown first (Clean Copy)

Clean Copy is a free browser extension that converts selected content — including tables — to clean Markdown before anything reaches your clipboard. Select the table, right-click, choose Clean Copy, and paste the result anywhere. Markdown tables are pipe-separated text: every converter, spreadsheet import wizard and AI assistant parses them perfectly. No tracking, runs locally, open source — or use the bookmarklet/web tool without installing anything.

Fix 3 — Power Query / Data > From Web

Excel's built-in Data > From Web (Power Query) fetches the page and lists its tables for import. It is the most thorough option for large tables, but only works on public pages, sometimes misses JS-rendered tables, and is overkill for a quick five-row grab.

Try Clean Copy free →

Frequently asked questions

How do I copy a table from a website into Excel?

Select the table and paste. If the layout breaks, convert the table to Markdown first with the free Clean Copy extension, then paste the pipe-separated rows into Excel using Data > Text to Columns with | as the delimiter.

Does this work in Google Sheets too?

Yes. Google Sheets follows the same rules: direct paste works for well-formed tables; otherwise split on the pipe character with Edit > Find and replace, or use File > Import on a cleaned CSV.

What about tables behind logins or JavaScript?

Power Query cannot see pages that require login, and some JavaScript-rendered tables never appear. A copy-time extension like Clean Copy works on whatever you can select in your browser — logged-in dashboards included.

Get Clean Copy → See also: paste without formatting →