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How to Copy a Table from PDF to Excel

By imagetolatex team · Published

For a PDF created digitally, Excel can import its tables directly: Data > Get Data > From File > From PDF, pick the table and click Load. Copy and paste usually puts each row into a single cell. Scanned PDFs have no text to import, so they need OCR, which reads the page image and rebuilds the rows and columns.

Method 1: Excel's Get Data from PDF

  1. Step 1: Open the importIn Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows, choose Data > Get Data > From File > From PDF.
  2. Step 2: Select the PDFChoose the file and click Import.
  3. Step 3: Pick the tableThe Navigator lists tables and pages. Click one to preview it.
  4. Step 4: LoadClick Load to place it on a new sheet, or Transform Data to clean it in Power Query first.

This works well for digital PDFs with clearly ruled tables. It finds nothing in scanned PDFs, because a scan is an image.

Method 2: through Word

Open the PDF in Word (File > Open); Word converts it into an editable document and often rebuilds tables as Word tables. Copy the table from Word and paste it into Excel. Check merged cells and numbers stored as text afterwards.

Method 3: OCR for scans and stubborn tables

  1. Step 1: Upload the PDFOpen PDF Table to Excel and upload the file (up to 150 pages and 100 MB).
  2. Step 2: ConvertEach page is read with OCR, so scans and photos of printouts work. It needs a free account and credits per page; failed conversions return their credits.
  3. Step 3: Download the workbookDownload the .xlsx and check headers and merged cells.
The PDF table to Excel converter with an upload area for PDF files
PDF Table to Excel: upload a PDF, including scans, and download an .xlsx.

Have the table as a screenshot instead of a PDF? Use Image to Excel.

FAQ

Why does pasting a PDF table put everything in one column?
PDFs store text as positioned lines, not cells, so a plain copy loses the column boundaries.
Does Get Data from PDF work on Mac?
The PDF import is part of Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows; Excel for Mac may not offer it. On a Mac, use the Word route or an OCR converter.
Can I convert a scanned PDF table?
Yes, with OCR. Excel's import cannot read scans.
How long are my files kept?
On imagetolatex the PDF is deleted once converted and the workbook after 24 hours.

Sources

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