Most users who need table data will probably copy all of it into a spreadsheet to work with it in there. You can either try and copy the data directly or use specialized browser extensions like Table 2 Clipboard for the Firefox web browser for that.

If you want to do more than that, you need a specialized browser extension like TableTools2 for Firefox, which adds many different table management options to the browser.

It allows users to copy, sort, search, filter, rearrange, combine and compare HTML tables and create charts using their data.

When it comes to sorting, it supports not only single-column sorts but also multi-column sorts. It comes with automatic and pre-configured sorting options as well as user defined sorting options.

Table data can be transformed into various charts with just a few clicks. The extension supports scatter, pie, line or frequency charts among others that are generated and displayed directly in the browser.

Users who work with large tables in the browser will like the searching options. TableTools2 supports regular expressions for advanced searches, custom filters to find results in a specified range and standard searches that match the entered values.

Take a look at the following video, it demonstrates some of the extension’s capabilities.

One of the interesting features of TableTools2 is the ability to display drop down filters for each table column. This way you can select specific table values that you want displayed. The extension hides all other table rows afterwards and displays additional information about the specific row and its columns on the same page.

The extension offers additional features that come in handy. From hiding columns of a table to restricting range of data rows to a full set of keyboard shortcuts for even faster access to the extension’s feature set.

You can install the table management add-on for Firefox over at Mozilla. The page offers detailed information about the add-on. Additional information and table examples are available on the developer’s own homepage.

Table 2 Clipboard is a Thunderbird extension that adds this much needed feature to Thunderbird. The extension can be used to copy a table or part of it to the clipboard retaining the format of it. Pasting that data into a spreadsheet will put the data into rows and columns just like the original data was.

The add-on has to be downloaded from Mozilla and installed using the Tools > Addons menu in Thunderbird. A click on Install in that menu will open a file browser where the downloaded extension has to be selected.

The extension adds two entries to the right-click context menu. The first is always available which will copy the whole table to the clipboard. The second is only available when CTRL-selecting table cells to copy only those selected cells to the clipboard. A shortcut CTRL Shift C is also available to copy selected table cells to the clipboard.

The Thunderbird extension could be useful for Thunderbird users who regularly receive tables in their emails that are embedded in the message’s body and not attached in separate files.