How to Export Any HTML Table to Excel/CSV: The 2026 Guide

Need to get data from a website into your spreadsheet? There are dozens of ways to do it, from simple copy-pasting to advanced Python scripts. This guide compares the 4 most popular methods so you can choose the best one for your needs.

Comparison Summary

Method	Difficulty	Best For	Dynamic Sites?
Browser Extension	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Easiest)	Daily use, non-techies	✅ Yes
Excel "From Web"	⭐⭐⭐ (Medium)	Recurring reports	❌ No
Google Sheets	⭐⭐⭐ (Medium)	Simple, public tables	❌ No
Python (Pandas)	⭐ (Hard)	Bulk scraping	⚠️ Complex

Method 1: Browser Extension (Recommended)

For most users, a Chrome extension is the fastest and most reliable method. It works exactly like you'd expect: find a table, click download.

How to use "Table to Excel"

1. Install Table to Excel from the Chrome Web Store.
2. Hover your mouse over any table on any website.
3. Detailed export buttons will appear.
4. Click Excel or CSV to download immediately.

Pros: Works on dynamic (React/Vue) sites, requires no setup, handles large tables.
Cons: Requires Chrome-based browser (Chrome, Edge, Brave).

Method 2: Excel "Get Data From Web"

Microsof Excel has a built-in scraper.

1. Open Excel.
2. Go to the Data tab.
3. Click From Web.
4. Paste the URL of the website.
5. Select the table from the list found by Excel.

Pros: Built-in to Excel, can be refreshed.
Cons: Breaks easily on modern websites that require login or JavaScript. Often fails to find the table.

Method 3: Google Sheets IMPORTHTML

Google Sheets has a magic function for fetching tables.

=IMPORTHTML("https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries", "table", 1)

Pros: Cloud-based, live updating.
Cons: Only works on public, static HTML pages. Unable to scrape data behind logins or generated by JavaScript.

Method 4: Python Pandas

For data scientists, the read_html() function is legendary.

import pandas as pd
dfs = pd.read_html('https://example.com/data.html')
dfs[0].to_csv('data.csv')

Pros: Powerful, scriptable, infinite scale.
Cons: Requires coding skills. Often gets blocked by anti-bot protections.

Which one should you choose?

• 👉 Use the Extension if you just want the file now without hassle.
• 👉 Use Excel if you need a recurring report on a corporate intranet.
• 👉 Use Python if you are scraping 1,000+ pages.