Paste Table

Paste Table

Obsidian plugin · Any plain text with structure becomes a real Markdown table — copy it from anywhere, or just type it yourself, then one click.

The problem

Writing a Markdown table by hand means remembering the boilerplate:

| Header | Header |
| --- | --- |
| Cell | Cell |

Every column needs a |, and you need a | --- | separator line. It's noisy, easy to break, and it forces you to decide the table syntax before you have the content.

The idea

You already know your data — you just don't want to type table syntax. So write or copy the content naturally, keeping the columns visually separated by a Tab, several spaces, or a |, then let the plugin do the syntax.

Where the text comes from doesn't matter:

That last one is the point: you don't need anything to copy. Type a header line, start the next line at the same visual columns, fill in the cells, select the block, and convert. No |, no ---, no counting columns.

Capability      Command              Use case
Cache object    SET / GET / EXPIRE   user profile, config, session
Batch caching   MSET / MGET          fewer network round-trips

→ one click →

Features

• Clipboard → table: read the clipboard, auto-detect the structure, insert a real Markdown table. No dialog, no interruption.
• Selection → table: select any aligned text already in your note and turn it into a table. Works for text you just typed yourself.
• Four parsing strategies, auto-detected in priority order:
  • Tab-separated (what most apps and AI chats put on the clipboard)
  • | pipe-separated (existing / hand-written Markdown tables — reformat them cleanly)
  • N consecutive spaces (visually aligned columns, including variable-width gaps)
  • single spaces with consistent column counts (short tables with no spaces inside cells)
• Never breaks your text: if the content doesn't look like a table, it is inserted as-is instead of being mangled.
• Row number column (optional): prepends # / 1 / 2 / 3 … to the leftmost column.
• HTML fallback: converts clipboard HTML <table> when the source provides one.
• Ragged rows are padded: rows with fewer cells than the header are filled in, so the Markdown stays valid.
• Fully offline: all conversion happens locally. No telemetry, no network requests, no note content ever leaves your vault.

Installation

Option 1: Obsidian Community plugins (recommended)

Settings → Community plugins → Turn off Restricted mode → Browse → search "Paste Table" → Install & Enable

If the official directory is hard to reach, PKMer Market mirrors the plugin for install and update.

Option 2: Manual install

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, styles.css from the releases
2. Place them in your vault's plugin folder and restart Obsidian:

<Vault>/.obsidian/plugins/paste-table/

Usage

Tip: bind Ctrl+Shift+V to Clipboard plain text (Settings → Hotkeys) for an instant "copy → paste-as-table" workflow.

Workflow A — copy from anywhere

1. Copy the content in any app (AI chat, web page, spreadsheet, another note…).
2. Back in Obsidian, press Ctrl+Shift+V (or run Clipboard plain text from the palette).
3. The table is inserted. Done.

Workflow B — type it yourself

1. Type the header line, e.g. Capability<Tab>Command<Tab>Use case, or separate columns with two or more spaces.
2. Press Enter and fill in the rows, keeping the columns roughly aligned (or keep using Tab).
3. Select the whole block.
4. Run Convert selection: text to table.
5. A valid Markdown table replaces the selection — no manual |, no ---.

Settings (Settings → Paste Table)

FAQ

Q: My content was inserted as-is instead of being converted. A: It failed the "looks like a table" check — usually a single line, or not enough structure. Try separating columns with Tab instead of spaces, or lower Min space gap.

Q: My hand-typed columns look wrong. A: Column detection is based on separators, not pixel positions. Use Tab between cells (most reliable), or keep at least two spaces between columns and don't put double spaces inside a cell.

Q: I already have a Markdown table — what happens? A: Pipe-separated text is detected too, so existing tables are simply normalized (separator rows cleaned up, missing cells padded).

Q: Do you upload my notes or clipboard? A: No. Everything runs locally; the plugin makes no network requests.

Q: Does it work on mobile? A: It is a desktop-only plugin (isDesktopOnly: true) because it reads the system clipboard. Mobile support may be evaluated later.

Q: Hotkey not working? A: Obsidian doesn't reserve Ctrl+Shift+V by default — bind the command under Settings → Hotkeys.

Development

git clone https://github.com/SpiderK-104/paste-table.git
cd paste-table
npm install        # install dependencies
npm run dev        # watch mode
npm run build      # production build
npm run lint       # lint

License

MIT

Credits

• Obsidian plugin developer docs
• obsidian-sample-plugin

---

中文文档

为什么会有这个插件？

手写一张 Markdown 表格，意味着你要记住那些烦人的语法：

| 表头 | 表头 |
| --- | --- |
| 内容 | 内容 |

每一列都要敲 |，还得补一行 | --- |。又吵又容易敲错，而且你往往得先想好语法，才能开始填内容。

换个思路

数据你本来就知道，你只是不想敲表格语法。

所以像平时一样写、或直接复制内容，只要列与列之间用 Tab、连续空格或者 | 分开，剩下的交给插件。

内容从哪来不重要：

最后一种才是重点：你根本不需要任何"可复制的东西"。 敲一行表头，换行后按同样的视觉位置填内容，选中这一块，转成表格。不用敲 |，不用敲 ---，也不用数列数。

能力          用到的指令            场景
缓存对象      SET / GET / EXPIRE   用户信息、配置、session
批量缓存      MSET / MGET          减少网络往返

→ 一键 →

功能特性

• 剪贴板转表格：读取剪贴板 → 自动识别结构 → 直接插入 Markdown 表格，无弹窗、无干扰
• 选中转表格：笔记里已有的任意对齐文本（哪怕是你刚敲的），选中后一键转正
• 四种解析策略，按优先级自动识别：
  • Tab 分隔（多数应用和 AI 对话复制出来的就是这种）
  • | 管道分隔（已存在的 / 手写的 Markdown 表格，顺手帮你格式化）
  • 连续 n 个空格（视觉对齐的列，列宽不一致也能处理）
  • 单空格但各行列数高度一致（短表格，单元格内不含空格）
• 不破坏原文：判断不像表格的内容会原样插入，不会被弄乱
• 数字排序列（可选）：表格最左侧自动插入 # / 1 / 2 / 3 … 序号列
• HTML 保底：剪贴板里确实有 HTML <table> 时也能转换
• 自动补齐：列数不足的行会补上空单元格，保证 Markdown 结构合法
• 离线运行：纯本地逻辑，不上传任何数据，无任何网络请求

安装

设置 → 第三方插件 → 关闭安全模式 → 社区插件 → 浏览 → 搜索 "Paste Table" → 安装并启用

国内访问官方市场困难时，推荐使用 PKMer Market 加速安装与更新。

使用

建议把 Ctrl+Shift+V 绑定到 Clipboard plain text（设置 → 快捷键），实现「复制 → 粘贴即表格」。

用法 A：从任何地方复制

1. 在任意应用里复制内容（AI 对话、网页、表格软件、另一篇笔记……）
2. 回到 Obsidian，按 Ctrl+Shift+V（或从命令面板执行 Clipboard plain text）
3. 表格已插入，完成

用法 B：自己敲

1. 敲一行表头，例如 能力<Tab>用到的指令<Tab>场景，或者用两个以上空格分列
2. 回车后填内容，保持列大致对齐（或者干脆一直用 Tab）
3. 选中这一整块
4. 执行 Convert selection: text to table
5. 选区被替换成合法的 Markdown 表格——全程不用手敲 | 和 ---

设置项（设置 → Paste Table）

FAQ

Q：为什么我的内容被原样插入而没有转换？ A：说明文本未通过「像表格」检测。可能是单行文本或结构不足；建议改用 Tab 分列，或调低「最小连续空格数」再试。

Q：我自己敲的列识别错了？ A：列识别依据是分隔符，不是像素位置。单元格之间用 Tab 最稳；用空格时列间至少留两个空格，且不要在单元格内部出现连续空格。

Q：我已经有 Markdown 表格了会怎样？ A：| 分隔同样会被识别，相当于帮你把表格重新格式化一遍（分隔行规整、缺列补齐）。

Q：会把我笔记内容或剪贴板上传吗？ A：不会。所有转换都在本地完成，插件不发起任何网络请求。

Q：支持手机端吗？ A：插件依赖系统剪贴板读取，声明为桌面端（isDesktopOnly: true）。后续版本可评估开放移动端。