Convert
PDF to Excel
Pull tables out of a PDF into an Excel workbook, and correct any cell before you export. Scanned tables are recognized with OCR and flagged for checking.
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PDFOne PDF up to 30 MB and 500 pages
What PDF to Excel does
PDF to Excel finds the tables in your PDF, shows each one in an editable grid you can compare with its source page, and builds an XLSX from what you approve. The review step exists because a PDF has no concept of a cell: a table is only text and lines drawn at coordinates, and rows and columns have to be inferred from where things sit.
Tables with ruled lines are read from their borders. Tables without lines are found from the repeated gaps between columns of text. Scanned pages contain no text at all, so they are recognized with OCR in your browser first, and cells the engine was unsure about are marked in amber.
The PDF is uploaded for inspection and for building the workbook, and the temporary copy is deleted when each step ends. The download is a formatted workbook with one worksheet per table or joined group, plus a report sheet listing source pages, corrections and values kept as text.
Is this the right tool?
Good for
- Getting an invoice, price list or statement into a sheet you can sort and total
- Rebuilding one long table that a report splits across several pages
- Recovering figures from a scanned or photographed table
- Working through up to 10 statements in Batch mode with the same settings
Not the right tool for
- Documents that are mostly paragraphs. Pages without a table are left out, so convert to Word to keep the prose.PDF to Word
- Charts and graphs. The numbers behind a chart are not stored in the PDF; export the page as an image if the picture is what you need.PDF to JPG
- Making a scan searchable without restructuring it into cells.OCR PDF
How to convert a PDF to Excel
Choose your PDF
Select Choose PDF file, or switch to Batch to add up to 10. A single file can be 30 MB and 500 pages.
Pick the pages
Each page gets a status such as Table detected, No table found or Needs OCR. Table pages are selected for you; adjust with Select table pages, Include scanned pages or the Page selection field.
Extract
Select Extract tables. When scanned pages are included, set OCR language first; the button then reads Recognize & review tables.
Review each table
Click a cell to correct it, set Header rows, and choose a type above each column. Compare with PDF shows the source page, and Undo reverses your last change.
Shape the workbook
Name the worksheet, use Join another table to append a continuation from the next page, and pick the Decimal separator your document uses.
Create and download
Select Create workbook, then Download XLSX.
Worked example
A statement whose transaction table runs over three pages
Say you have a four-page statement. Page 1 is a cover letter, and pages 2 to 4 carry one transaction table with the column headings repeated at the top of each page. The page list marks page 1 as No table found and selects pages 2 to 4.
After Extract tables you see three tables, one per page. Open the first and use Join another table to append the tables from pages 3 and 4. Tick Remove exact repeated headers from appended tables so the headings appear once.
The reference column starts with zeros. Its type is Auto, which keeps values like 004512 as text so the zeros survive. Amounts written as 1,250.00 also stay as text under Auto, so set that column to Number. Create the workbook and you have a single worksheet with a frozen header row, ready to filter and total.
Tips for a better result
- If decimals use a comma, as in 1.234,56, change Decimal separator before you create the workbook.
- Dates are converted only when you choose the matching Date type above the column. That stops day and month from being swapped.
- Open Save or manage presets to keep your language, header and column choices for next month's file.
PDF to Excel: questions and answers
Why did my numbers arrive as text in Excel?
Under the Auto column type, a column becomes numbers only when every filled cell in it is one: plain values such as 1250 or 12.5, and amounts written the way statements show them, such as 1,234.56, (45.10), 12.5% or €9.99, which keep that look as an Excel number format. A column with any other text, and codes with leading zeros such as 00123, stays as text so that account numbers are never altered, and dates stay as text too. Set a column to Number or a Date format in the review grid to convert it yourself.
Can it read a table from a scan or a phone photo saved as PDF?
Yes. Include the scanned pages, choose the OCR language and select Recognize & review tables. Recognition runs in your browser, for documents of up to 100 pages. Compare the amber cells with the source page before you export.
Are merged cells kept in the spreadsheet?
Merged cells detected in a ruled table are kept as merges in the worksheet. If a merge gets in the way of sorting or filtering, use Split merged cells in the review grid before you create the workbook.
Does the exported workbook contain formulas?
No. A PDF stores the printed result of a calculation, not the formula behind it, so totals arrive as plain values. Text that happens to begin with an equals sign is stored as text and is never run as a formula.