About the TSV Transpose Tool
Transposing a table makes its first row its first column, its second row its second column, and so on. Paste cells copied from a spreadsheet, which arrive as tab-separated text, and the flipped table appears at once, ready to paste back. Rows of different lengths are padded with empty cells, so the result is a neat rectangle. The tab is the only separator the tool uses, so commas inside cells are harmless. It runs in your browser and the cells are not uploaded.
Updated October 2026
How to use the TSV Transpose Tool
- 1Copy cells from a spreadsheet or paste a TSV into the left box.
- 2The flipped table appears on the right.
- 3Check the note with the new number of rows and columns.
- 4Copy the result or download it as a .tsv file.
- 5Paste it into your spreadsheet.
Flip a table without a spreadsheet
A table written across the page is sometimes needed down the page, for a chart, for a form or for a program that reads records as columns. Flipping it by hand is slow and error-prone; the tool does it exactly and instantly.
It is also useful to read a record with many fields as a vertical list.
What stays the same
Every value is copied untouched: no rounding, no date changes and no trimming. Only its place in the grid changes, from row i and column j to row j and column i.
Tips
Make sure each row has the same number of cells to avoid padding. After flipping, check the first row, because it holds what used to be the first column.
Example
A table with the heading month, jan, feb, mar followed by a sales row and a costs row has three rows and four columns. After transposing it has four rows and three columns: month, sales and costs run across the top, and each month gets its own row.
Pasting the result back into a spreadsheet puts every value in its own cell.
Phone and computer
On a phone, paste into the box, adjust the table, and tap Copy to carry the result into another app. On a computer you can also download it as a file. The two boxes sit side by side on a wide screen and one above the other on a narrow one, so you can compare input and result without zooming. Nothing you paste is uploaded or stored.
Good to know
A spreadsheet table can be flipped by hand with paste special, but that works on a selected block and can be fiddly with very large ranges. A text tool has no such limit other than the memory of your browser. It also leaves the original untouched, so you can compare the two tables side by side.
If a heading row becomes the first column, you may want to keep it as a label column in the next step of your work. Where only some rows are short, the padding cells appear at the end of the flipped columns, never in the middle. CSV Transpose Tool is the same idea for comma-separated files, TSV Column Swapper reorders columns after you flip the table, and TSV to CSV Converter changes the format when you are done.
Features
- Rows become columns and the reverse
- Paste from and back to a spreadsheet
- Short rows padded with empty cells
- Tab separator is fixed
- Shows the new size
- Private: nothing is uploaded
Frequently asked questions
How do I transpose a table of tab-separated data?
Paste it into the box. The result is the same table with rows and columns exchanged.
Is this the same as paste special transpose?
It gives the same result as the spreadsheet feature, but for text, and it works with very large tables.
What happens to missing cells?
Short rows are padded with empty cells, so the flipped table has no gaps in its shape.
Is the first row treated as a heading?
No. The whole table is flipped, so the heading row becomes the first column.
Can I undo the flip?
Yes. Transpose the result again and you get the original, apart from added empty cells.
Is my table uploaded?
No. It is flipped in your browser.