📊 Excel To Table

ExcelToTable is a lightweight, elegant desktop application built with Qt6 and C++17 that instantly transforms Excel spreadsheets into beautifully formatted ASCII tables with Unicode box-drawing characters — perfect for embedding data in documentation, code comments, emails, or terminal output.

🎯 Perfect for: Developers, technical writers, data analysts, and anyone who needs to present tabular data in plain-text environments.

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🙌 Who is this for?

• 📝 Technical writers – Drop Excel tables directly into markdown, README files, or documentation with perfect formatting.
• 💻 Software developers – Quickly convert spreadsheet data into ASCII tables for code comments or console output.
• 📊 Data analysts – Present quick data snapshots in emails, Slack messages, or commit messages without screenshots.
• 📚 Researchers & students – Transform research data into clean tables for plain-text theses or notes.
• 🖥️ CLI enthusiasts – Get beautifully structured tables right in your terminal with zero markup.

💡 Why use ExcelToTable?

Problem	Solution
❌ Sharing Excel files requires specific software	✅ Output is universal plain text – readable anywhere
❌ Tables in plain text look messy and unaligned	✅ Beautiful Unicode box-drawing characters with perfect alignment
❌ Manual formatting takes forever	✅ Drag & drop – one click conversion in milliseconds
❌ Copying data from Excel loses structure	✅ Preserved column widths, padding, and row separators
❌ Need to embed tables in code or docs	✅ Ready-to-paste ASCII output with professional styling

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✨ Features

Feature	Description
🖱️ Drag & Drop	Simply drag an Excel file onto the window – no browsing dialogs
🎨 Beautiful ASCII Tables	Output uses Unicode box-drawing characters (┌ ┐ └ ┘ ├ ┤ ┬ ┴ ┼)
📏 Auto-Sizing Columns	Column widths are calculated automatically based on content
⚡ Instant Conversion	One click converts the entire spreadsheet to a formatted text file
📂 Smart Output Path	Output file is automatically named filename_output.txt in the same directory
✅ Wide Format Support	Supports .xlsx, .xls, and .xlsm files
🧹 Empty Row Handling	Automatically detects and stops at the last row with actual data
🛡️ Safe Operations	Read-only on source files – your original Excel data is never modified
🎛️ Modern UI	Clean gradient design with visual drag-and-drop feedback
📊 Large File Support	Handles spreadsheets up to 100,000 rows and 1,000 columns

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📸 Screenshot

(Add a screenshot of your app here)

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🛠️ Requirements

Before building, make sure you have the following installed:

1. Qt6 (with Core, Gui, and Widgets modules)
2. C++17 compatible compiler (GCC, Clang, MSVC)
3. CMake (version 3.16 or higher)
4. QXlsx (included as a submodule – no additional setup needed)

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🚀 Getting Started

1️⃣ Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/ExcelToTable.git
cd ExcelToTable/

2️⃣ Initialize QXlsx submodule

git submodule update --init --recursive

3️⃣ Build with CMake

cmake -B build
cmake --build build

4️⃣ Run the application

./build/bin/ExcelToTable

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🧩 How It Works

1. Drag an Excel file (.xlsx, .xls, .xlsm) onto the drop zone.
2. The app automatically fills in the output path (filename_output.txt).
3. Click the convert button (or press Enter).
4. Your formatted ASCII table is saved instantly!

💡 The output is a plain .txt file saved in the same folder as your source Excel file. Open it in any text editor, terminal, or paste it directly into code comments.

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📁 Output Example

Given this Excel sheet:

Name	Age	City
Alice	28	New York
Bob	34	Los Angeles
Charlie	22	Chicago

The generated ASCII table:

┌──────────┬───────┬───────────────┐
│   Name   │  Age  │     City      │
├──────────┼───────┼───────────────┤
│  Alice   │  28   │   New York    │
├──────────┼───────┼───────────────┤
│   Bob    │  34   │  Los Angeles  │
├──────────┼───────┼───────────────┤
│ Charlie  │  22   │    Chicago    │
└──────────┴───────┴───────────────┘

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🏗️ Project Structure

ExcelToTable/
├── CMakeLists.txt          # Build configuration
├── main.cc                 # Application entry point
├── include/
│   ├── ExcelReader.h       # Excel file reading interface
│   ├── TableFormatter.h    # ASCII table formatting engine
│   └── MainWindow.h        # Main application window
├── src/
│   ├── ExcelReader.cc      # QXlsx integration & data extraction
│   ├── TableFormatter.cc   # Box-drawing character table generation
│   └── MainWindow.cc       # UI logic, drag & drop handling
├── ui/
│   └── ExcelToTable.ui     # Qt Designer UI file
├── assets/
│   ├── Button.png          # Convert button icon
│   ├── Excel.png           # Excel file icon
│   ├── Loading.png         # Loading state icon
│   └── Text.png            # Text output icon
├── resources.qrc           # Qt resource file (icons)
└── QXlsx/                  # Excel reading library (submodule)

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🎨 Unicode Box-Drawing Engine

The TableFormatter class constructs tables using Unicode box-drawing characters with precise alignment:

• Horizontal lines with ─ and ┼ junctions
• Custom borders for top (┌ ┬ ┐), middle (├ ┼ ┤), and bottom (└ ┴ ┘)
• Centered cell content with automatic padding calculation
• Zero external dependencies – pure Qt string manipulation

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📊 Supported File Types

Format	Extension	Support
Excel Workbook	.xlsx	✅ Full support
Excel 97-2003	.xls	✅ Full support
Excel Macro-Enabled	.xlsm	✅ Full support

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⭐ Support

If you find this tool useful, please give it a ⭐ on GitHub! Have a feature request or found a bug? Open an issue.

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