PDF to Excel
Converter

How to convert a PDF to Excel

1. Click Choose files, or drag one or more PDFs onto the drop area.
2. Conversion starts straight away. Each file shows its progress in the list and gets a Save button when it’s finished.
3. Look over the settings panel on the right: Sheets, Turn numbers into numbers and Join wrapped cell text. If you change one after converting, click Apply to all files to run everything again with the new settings.
4. Click Save next to a file to download its .xlsx, or use Download all (.zip) to get every workbook in one go. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc and Numbers.

How the converter finds rows and columns

There is no hunt for ruled table lines. The converter reads every line of horizontal text on a page, then looks for empty vertical strips that run down the page between pieces of text. Those strips become the column boundaries, and each line of text becomes a row. Empty columns are dropped, and column widths are set to fit the content.

This works well for invoices, price lists, reports and statements where figures sit in clear columns. It also means everything on the page comes along: titles, addresses, footnotes and page numbers land in the sheet as extra rows, which are quick to delete with a filter.

Only horizontal text is read, so rotated text is skipped. Images and charts are left out.

What the settings do

• Sheets. All pages in one sheet (the default) stacks every page in a single sheet named Sheet1, with an empty row between pages. One sheet per page gives you tabs named Page 1, Page 2 and so on.
• Turn numbers into numbers. On by default. Cells that look like amounts become real numeric cells, so SUM and sorting work. It understands 1,234.50 and the European 1.234,50, currency signs such as $, € and £, a leading or trailing minus, CR and DR markers, and accounting brackets, so (12.00) becomes -12. A percentage like 12% becomes 0.12. Account numbers of 12 or more digits and codes with leading zeros, such as 0042, stay as text.
• Join wrapped cell text. On by default. When a description wraps onto a second line in the PDF, that second line would otherwise become its own row with a single filled cell. This option attaches it to the cell above. Turn it off if separate rows are being merged by mistake.

Common problems and fixes

• Nothing comes out, or you see a message about no selectable text. The PDF is a scan or a photo of pages. There is no OCR in this tool, so run the file through an OCR program first (many scanner apps and PDF editors include one), then convert the new file.
• The PDF is password-protected. The converter can’t open it. Remove the password first, for example by opening it with the password and printing it to a new PDF.
• Two columns ended up in one cell. Something on the page, often a long heading, bridged the gap between them. Split the cell with Data › Text to Columns.
• Dates are text, not Excel dates. Dates aren’t converted. Use Text to Columns with a date format, or the DATEVALUE function, if you need to sort or calculate with them.
• The heading row repeats in the middle of the data. Tables that span pages repeat their heading on each page, and every copy comes through. Filter for the heading text and delete the extras.

What a PDF can and can’t give you

A PDF records where each piece of text is drawn on the page, not which cell it belongs to, so converting to Excel is a rebuild. A quick check against the original is worth a minute.

You get values only. Formulas, cell colors, borders, merged cells and fonts from the original spreadsheet aren’t recreated, because the PDF doesn’t hold them as spreadsheet features.

If the rows are headed for another program, PDF to CSV uses the same extraction and gives you a plain text file. For bank statements, Bank statement to CSV goes further and builds Date, Description, Debit and Credit columns for you.

Privacy

The PDF is read with pdf.js inside your browser and the workbook is built on your device. Payslips, invoices and financial reports are never uploaded.