Do you love tables?

I sure do…

I use ChatGPT to generate email subject lines. I have a whole post about that here.

But it’s useful to convert these results into tables.

Let me show you how…

Below you can see a prompt where I ask ChatGPT to give me email campaign ideas.

It gives some good ones specific to a brand.

Then I ask it to give some catchy subject lines…

And finally, the prompt to convert it into a table (it’s not that hard).

Most people don’t know about this.

Hopefully, now you do!

You can even copy and paste this into a google sheet to play around with it (automate it, save it, etc.)

ChatGPT can't insert a table the way Word or Google Docs does — but it can generate, format, and convert almost any data into a clean table instantly, if you know how to ask.

Tables make information faster to scan, easier to compare, and more presentable in reports, emails, and presentations. ChatGPT is particularly useful for:

The simplest way to get a table from ChatGPT is to ask directly:

Put all of the information above into a table format.

That's it. After any ChatGPT output — a list, a comparison, a set of ideas — just follow up with that prompt and ChatGPT will restructure it as a table.

Example: Ask ChatGPT to generate 5 email subject lines for a product launch. Then follow up with:

Now put these subject lines into a table with three columns: subject line, tone, and best use case.

ChatGPT will instantly reformat the output into a structured table with the columns you specified.

If you want ChatGPT to generate a table directly rather than converting existing output, be specific about the columns and content you need.

Prompt template: Create a table with the following columns: [Column 1], [Column 2], [Column 3]. Populate it with [number] rows of [content description].

Examples:

Create a table with the following columns: Task, Priority, Owner, Deadline. Populate it with 5 example rows for a product launch project.

Create a comparison table for the following CRM tools: Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive. Compare them across: pricing, best for, key features, and limitations.

Create a table summarizing the following data with columns for Month, Revenue, Expenses, and Net Profit: [paste your data]

This is one of the most useful ChatGPT table tricks — taking unstructured text or a list and converting it into a clean table.

Prompt: Convert the following text into a table. Identify the most logical columns based on the content: [paste your text]

Or if you know the columns: Convert the following into a table with these columns: [Column 1], [Column 2], [Column 3]: [paste your text]

Example use cases:

ChatGPT generates tables in markdown format by default. To paste them into Google Sheets or Excel cleanly:

Option 1 — Ask for CSV format: Give me the same table in CSV format so I can paste it into Google Sheets.

ChatGPT will reformat the table as comma-separated values which you can paste directly into a spreadsheet.

Option 2 — Ask for tab-separated format: Give me the same table in tab-separated format for Excel.

Option 3 — Paste markdown directly: In Google Sheets, paste the markdown table into a single cell, then use Data → Split text to columns to separate it automatically.

Project management: Create a project tracker table with columns for Task, Status, Owner, Priority, and Due Date. Add 8 example rows for a website redesign project.

Competitor analysis: Create a competitor analysis table for [your industry]. Include columns for Company, Target Customer, Pricing Model, Key Strengths, and Key Weaknesses. Add 5 rows.

Content calendar: Create a content calendar table for the next 4 weeks with columns for Date, Platform, Content Type, Topic, and Status.

Budget tracking: Create a budget tracker table with columns for Category, Budgeted Amount, Actual Amount, Variance, and Notes. Add 10 rows for a marketing budget.

Meeting notes to action items: Convert the following meeting notes into an action items table with columns for Task, Owner, Deadline, and Priority: [paste notes]

Product comparison: Create a product comparison table for [product category] with columns for Feature, [Product A], [Product B], [Product C]. Include 10 rows covering the most important features.

Employee skills matrix: Create a skills matrix table for a 6-person marketing team. Columns: Team Member, SEO, Content Writing, Paid Ads, Analytics, Design. Rate each skill as Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced.

Specify your columns upfront. The more specific you are about what columns you want, the more useful the output. "Make a table" gets a generic result. "Make a table with columns for X, Y, Z" gets exactly what you need.

Tell ChatGPT how many rows you want. Without guidance it may generate 3-4 rows. If you need 10, say so.

Ask for CSV when you need to use the data. Markdown tables look great in ChatGPT but CSV format is far easier to work with in spreadsheets.

Use follow-up prompts to refine. If the table isn't quite right, don't start over. Say "add a column for [X]", "sort this by [column]", or "remove the [column] column and replace it with [new column]."

Chain prompts for complex outputs. First ask ChatGPT to generate the content, then in a follow-up ask it to convert the output into a table. This two-step approach gives you more control over both the content and the format.

Copy the prompt below: