How to convert a PDF table into Excel
On Windows with Microsoft 365, use Data → Get Data → From File → From PDF, which reads tables natively. Otherwise copy the table, paste into Excel, and split it with Data → Text to Columns. Both need a real text layer, scanned tables must be OCR-ed first, and messy tables are often faster to retype.
A table in a PDF is not a table. It is a set of text fragments at coordinates, sometimes with lines drawn around them. Every method below is a different strategy for guessing where the columns are.
Method 1: Power Query (best, Windows only)
Excel has had a native PDF connector since 2020. It is genuinely good: it detects tables page by page, previews each one, and gives you a refreshable query rather than a dead paste.
- Open the connectorIn Excel: Data → Get Data → From File → From PDF, then choose the file.
- Pick your table in the NavigatorPower Query lists every table it found as Table001, Table002 and so on, plus each Page as a whole. Click each one to preview it on the right.
- Use Transform Data, not LoadClick Transform Data to open the Power Query Editor. Loading directly usually gives you text columns and a header row stuck in row 1.
- Promote the headersHome → Use First Row as Headers.
- Set the data typesClick each column header icon and set Decimal Number, Whole Number or Date. This is the step that catches numbers that came in as text.
- Close and loadHome → Close & Load. The table lands in a sheet and can be refreshed with Data → Refresh All if the PDF is replaced.
The From PDF connector is Windows-only. It is not available in Excel for Mac, in Excel on the web, or in perpetual-licence Excel 2016 and earlier. On a Mac, use Method 2 or 3.
Method 2: Copy, paste, Text to Columns
The universal method. It works everywhere, including on a Mac, and it is fast for a single table.
- Select the table in your PDF viewer and copy it. Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) while dragging in Acrobat and many viewers to make a rectangular selection instead of a flowing one, this alone fixes most column scrambling.
- Paste into Excel. Everything usually lands in column A.
- Select column A, then Data → Text to Columns.
- Choose Delimited if the values are separated by tabs or commas, or Fixed width if the PDF used spaces to align the columns. Fixed width is right more often than people expect for PDF text.
- On step 3 of the wizard, set the column data format. Mark any code, ID or postcode column as Text so leading zeros survive.
- Finish, then spot-check the last row and the widest row against the PDF.
Method 3: Extract the text first
For a long report where you want every table, pull the whole text layer out first with the text extractor, open the .txt in Excel through Data → From Text/CSV, and use Fixed width. This gives you all the pages at once instead of copying table by table, and you can see exactly what the PDF really contains. See extracting all the text from a PDF for the details.
Try the browser table extractor, your file stays on your computer.
PDF to Excel →Choosing a method
| Method | Platform | Best for | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power Query From PDF | Windows, Microsoft 365 | Multi-page tables, recurring reports | Not on Mac or Excel on the web |
| Copy + Text to Columns | Everywhere | One table, one time | Manual, breaks on merged cells |
| Browser extractor | Any browser | Confidential files, no upload | Struggles with borderless tables |
| Extract text, import fixed width | Everywhere | Whole reports at once | Needs manual column boundaries |
| Acrobat Pro Export To → Spreadsheet | Windows, Mac (paid) | Complex ruled tables | Costs money |
| Retype it | Everywhere | Under about 60 cells, or heavy merged cells | Your time |
Where the numbers go wrong
This is the part that quietly costs people money. Check every one of these before you build a formula on the result.
- Decimal and thousands separators. A German PDF writes 1.234,56 for one thousand two hundred and thirty-four point five six. Pasted into an English Excel it becomes text, or worse, 1.23456. Fix it in Text to Columns → Advanced, where you can set the decimal and thousands separators explicitly.
- Negatives in parentheses. Accounting PDFs write (1,250) for minus 1,250. Excel imports that as text. Replace the parentheses with a leading minus before converting.
- Trailing minus signs. Some systems export 1250-. Same problem.
- Leading zeros. Product codes like 00734 become 734 unless you set the column format to Text during the import.
- Dates. 03/04/2026 is 3 April in most of the world and 4 March in the US. Set the column to Text, check what the PDF meant, then convert deliberately.
- Hyphenated wrapped text. Long labels broken across two lines in the PDF arrive as two rows.
- Footnote markers. A superscript 1 next to a figure becomes part of the number: 4521 instead of 452.
Always verify with a total. Sum the imported column and compare it to the total printed in the PDF. If they match, your import is almost certainly clean. If they do not, one of the traps above got you, and you have found it in ten seconds rather than after presenting the numbers.
When the table is a scan
If you cannot select the text, no extraction method will work. Run OCR first. Be more sceptical of OCR-ed tables than of OCR-ed prose: a misread letter in a paragraph is obvious, but an 8 read as a 3 in a column of figures is invisible and wrong. Check the totals, always.
When to just retype it
A 6-column, 10-row table takes about three minutes to type and is guaranteed correct. Chasing a converter through merged cells, multi-line headers and footnote markers takes twenty and leaves you unsure. If the table has fewer than about 60 cells, or uses merged header cells spanning several columns, retyping wins. Google Sheets, incidentally, has no PDF import at all, you have to go through Google Docs and copy the result across.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a PDF to Excel for free?
On Windows with Microsoft 365, use Data → Get Data → From File → From PDF, which is built in. Anywhere else, copy the table, paste it into Excel and split it with Data → Text to Columns, or extract the text and import it as fixed-width.
Why is my PDF table pasting into one column?
The PDF used spaces rather than tabs to align the columns, so Excel sees one long string. Select the column and run Data → Text to Columns with the Fixed width option, then drag the break lines to match the columns.
Can Excel for Mac import a PDF?
No. The From PDF connector in Power Query is Windows-only. On a Mac, copy and paste with Text to Columns, extract the text first, or use a browser-based extractor.
Why are my imported numbers stored as text?
Usually a separator mismatch, a currency symbol, a trailing space, a footnote marker, or negatives written in parentheses. Set the column type explicitly during the import and compare your column total against the total printed in the PDF.
Can I extract a table from a scanned PDF?
Only after OCR, and you must verify the result. OCR confuses 8 with 3, 1 with 7 and 0 with O, and in a table of figures those errors are invisible. Always cross-check against a printed total before using the data.