You have a table of data in a PDF and need to work with those figures in Excel. Or a report containing statistics that you want to analyse. PDFs are great for presenting information but terrible for manipulating it. Excel is the exact opposite: perfect for working with data but terrible for presenting it in a fixed format. Converting from one to the other should be simple, but it can be tricky.
The difficulty of the conversion depends entirely on how the original PDF was created. If it comes from a spreadsheet, the conversion usually works well. If it’s a scanned PDF or one with complex tables, it can be a nightmare. Understanding this saves you a lot of time and frustration.
Types of PDFs and what to expect
PDFs created directly from Excel or another spreadsheet programme retain the data structure. Conversion back to Excel usually works well; rows and columns are preserved, and numbers remain as numbers. This is the ideal scenario.
PDFs generated from Word or other word processors containing tables are more problematic. The tables in these documents are more visual than structural. The conversion may work but requires cleaning up afterwards.
Scanned PDFs are the worst-case scenario. They are images of documents, not actual documents. You need OCR (optical character recognition) to extract the text, and then identify what constitutes a table and structure it. The results range from acceptable to disastrous.
Quick online converters
Smallpdf, iLovePDF, Zamzar and PDF to Excel offer free conversion via the browser. You upload your PDF, the service processes it and returns an Excel file. The process takes seconds for small documents.
Most automatically identify tables and convert them to spreadsheets. It works surprisingly well with well-structured PDFs. A clear table with defined rows and columns converts cleanly. Complex tables with merged cells or unusual formatting may come out messy.
These services have limits in the free version: maximum file size, number of conversions per day, maximum pages per document. For occasional use, this isn’t a problem. If you convert PDFs regularly, you’ll need desktop software or a paid subscription.
Privacy is an important consideration. You are uploading data that you probably want to analyse or use professionally. Read the service’s privacy policy. Reputable providers state that they delete your files after processing them, but if you work with confidential information or sensitive data, it is better to use local options.
Adobe Acrobat for professional conversion
Adobe Acrobat Pro can export PDFs to Excel with considerable accuracy. The process is straightforward: File > Export To > Microsoft Excel. Acrobat analyses the document, identifies tables and data structures, and generates an Excel file.
The result is usually better than free online converters. Acrobat understands complex structures, preserves formulas if they exist in the original PDF, and maintains cell formatting. For important conversions where accuracy matters, it is your best option.
The obvious problem is the cost. If you already have Acrobat for your work, make the most of it. If not, buying it just to convert PDFs occasionally doesn’t make financial sense.
Microsoft Excel can also help
Recent versions of Excel can import data from PDFs directly. Go to Data > Get External Data > From File > From PDF, select your file and Excel will attempt to extract the tables.
It’s not a perfect conversion, but for simple tables it works reasonably well. Excel shows you a preview of the detected data and you can choose what to import. Afterwards you’ll need to clean up and adjust the formatting, but the bulk of the work is done.
This option is useful if you already have Office and don’t want to use external services. Everything is processed locally on your computer, without uploading files to the internet.
When the PDF contains multiple tables
If your PDF contains several tables on different pages, automatic converters sometimes place them all on a single Excel sheet, whilst at other times they create separate sheets. The result can be confusing.
Define how you want it structured before converting. Some tools allow you to select specific pages or specific areas of the PDF to convert. Converting only what you need usually yields better results than converting the entire document and then filtering.
If you need to extract just one specific table from a long PDF, many online tools allow you to select the exact area you want to convert. You draw a rectangle around the table you’re interested in, and only that part is processed.
Scanned PDFs require OCR
A scanned PDF is a photo of the document. It does not contain actual text; it contains an image of text. To convert this to Excel, you first need OCR to recognise the text, then table detection to understand the structure, and finally conversion to spreadsheet format.
Some online converters include automatic OCR. Adobe Acrobat does too. The results depend on the quality of the original scan. A document scanned clearly with good resolution converts reasonably well. A blurry scan or one with poor lighting yields poor results.
OCR is not perfect. It can confuse similar numbers (0 and O, 1 and I, 5 and S). Always check the data after conversion, especially important numbers. An error in financial figures caused by faulty OCR can lead to serious problems.
Data cleaning after conversion
Few PDF-to-Excel conversions turn out perfectly. After converting, you need to clean up the data: remove empty rows, adjust column widths, correct cell formatting, check that numbers are numbers and not text, and delete extraneous characters.
Excel has useful tools for this. The ‘Find and Replace’ function removes unwanted characters. ‘Text to Columns’ separates data that has merged together. The automatic number formatting functions convert text that looks like a number into actual numbers.
Cleaning up can take longer than the conversion itself, especially with complex PDFs.
It’s not the magical automatic process one might wish for, but it’s still faster than rewriting everything manually.
Alternatives to full conversion
Sometimes you don’t need to convert the whole PDF, just copy specific data. If you’re only interested in a small table, you can often select the text directly in the PDF,
copy it and paste it into Excel.
Results vary. Simple tables often paste decently into Excel with a recognisable structure. Complex tables paste as a jumble of text that you need to format manually. Try this method first before using converters if you only need specific data.
Specialised desktop software
Able2Extract, Nitro Pro and PDF Element are desktop programmes that convert PDFs to Excel with good results. They require a purchase or subscription but offer more control and generally better conversions than free online tools.
These programmes usually include useful features such as batch conversion (multiple files at once), selecting specific areas to convert, custom formatting options, and conversion with no limits on size or quantity.
For someone who regularly converts PDFs to Excel as part of their work, the specialised software pays for itself in time saved.
When you also need other formats
If you work with PDFs regularly and sometimes need Excel, other times Word, and other times need to edit them directly, look for tools that handle multiple conversions.
Converting PDF to Word is another common need that you can meet with the same platforms.
Services such as Smallpdf, iLovePDF and Sejda offer comprehensive suites: conversion to various formats, PDF editing, compression, and merging. Having all these tools in one place saves time.
Always check the results
Never assume that an automatic conversion is perfect. Always review the resulting Excel file before using it for analysis or decision-making. Compare the figures with the original PDF, check that any formulas (if present) work correctly, and confirm that the structure makes sense.
An error in a PDF-to-Excel conversion that goes unnoticed can propagate through all your analyses. Five minutes of checking can save hours of work based on incorrect data.
Keep the original PDF
After converting, save the original PDF. You may need to check something later or discover that the conversion contains errors you didn’t notice initially. The PDF is your true reference.
If you’re going to share the converted data with others, consider including the
original PDF as well. That way, anyone can verify the data if they have doubts about any figures or details.
Converting PDFs to Excel isn’t a perfect process, but current tools do a reasonably good job in most cases. The key is to understand what type of PDF you have, choose the appropriate tool, and take the time to clean up and verify the result.
With important data, there are no shortcuts: always check manually to ensure everything is correct. Data is only useful if it is correct.