How to convert a PDF to Excel
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Contents
To convert a PDF to Excel, open PDF to Excel, add your PDF, press Export XLSX, and download the workbook. Each line of the PDF's text becomes a row of a sheet named “Extracted text”, split into cells at tabs and runs of two or more spaces, and each value lands in the column it sits in on the page.
It is layout placement, not table detection. When you want only the tables out of a page, each on its own, Extract Tables is the tool built for that.
PDF to Excel runs on a secure server, not in your browser: your PDF, up to 100 MB, travels over an encrypted connection, and our server deletes it when the job finishes. The download link stops working after 60 minutes, and a daily storage rule erases the stored workbook.
Step by step
- 1Open the PDF to Excel tool.
- 2Add your PDF by dragging it onto the box or clicking browse. Files up to 100 MB are accepted.
- 3Press Export XLSX. Your PDF uploads over an encrypted connection, and the button follows the job until the workbook is back in the page.
- 4When “Your XLSX file is ready.” appears, press Download. The link stops working after 60 minutes, so save the workbook right away.
- 5Open the sheet and tidy it: delete rows that came from page headers and footers, and check dates and codes that stayed text.
How each line becomes a row
Every non-empty line of the PDF's text becomes one row, and a line breaks into cells at tabs and runs of two or more spaces; a single space or a comma never starts a new cell. Rows that line up are treated as one table, so a blank cell stays blank and the values after it stay under their own headings. Where one cell runs across a column boundary, or a table starts on a page's first line, columns can merge — check them against the PDF.
Pages follow one another with no blank row between them, so page headers, footers and page numbers printed as text end up among the data rows. Ruling lines and cell borders are ignored, merged cells are not rebuilt, and fonts, colours and images are not carried over.
Amounts arrive as numbers
An amount or a percentage written like 1,250.00, $4.20, or 15% is stored as a number, so SUM adds a column up without converting anything, and the comma inside an amount never splits it. A date such as 2026-01-05, a European-style 1.250,00, a negative in brackets and a code with leading zeros stay text, so convert those columns before you calculate with them.
Scanned PDFs and table-only exports
A scanned page holds a picture of its words, so it has no text to export. A fully scanned PDF is refused with a message pointing to OCR PDF: run it there with the language the page is written in, choose a searchable PDF, and bring that file back here. If only some pages are scans, the export succeeds and the result says which pages had no text.
Extract Tables looks for tables by where the words sit, keeps only the regions that read as a grid of values, and hands back a CSV per table plus one workbook with a sheet for each. Choose it when you want the tables alone, without the headings and paragraphs around them.
Common questions
Will my table's rows and columns line up in Excel?
Usually, when the rows line up on the page: each value goes in the column it sits in, so a blank cell stays blank. A cell whose text wraps onto a second printed line gives you two rows, and two columns printed only one space apart stay in a single cell. Where one cell runs across a column boundary, or a table starts on a page's first line, columns can merge — check them against the PDF.
Will SUM work on the numbers?
For amounts and percentages written like 1,250.00, $4.20, or 15%, yes: each is stored as a number. Dates such as 2026-01-05, European-style 1.250,00, negatives in brackets and codes with leading zeros stay text.
Can I convert a scanned PDF to Excel?
Not directly: a scan has no selectable text, so the job is refused with a link to OCR PDF. Run OCR first with the right language, choose a searchable PDF as the result, and convert that file here.
Does PDF to Excel upload my file?
Yes. The text is read by a native program a browser cannot run, so your PDF is uploaded over an encrypted connection to a secure server, which deletes it when the job finishes. The download link stops working after 60 minutes, and a daily storage rule erases the stored workbook.
How large can my PDF be?
Up to 100 MB, one PDF per run.