Getting a table out of a PDF and into Excel is one of the most requested PDF tasks in finance, accounting, and data work. The method that works best depends on whether the PDF is a native digital file or a scan, and how complex the table structure is.
How to Convert a PDF Table to Excel Using an Online Tool
For native digital PDFs, an online PDF to Excel converter is the fastest route. Upload the file to WukongPDF's PDF to Excel tool, let it process, and download the .xlsx file. Tables are extracted with their row and column structure intact, and numeric data comes through as actual numbers rather than text strings โ which means you can use them in formulas immediately.
Multi-page PDFs with the same table continuing across pages are usually merged into a single sheet. Check the output to confirm the rows align correctly at the page breaks โ this is the most common place where a few rows need manual adjustment.
Converting Scanned PDF Tables to Excel
A scanned table is an image of a table โ the tool can't read the cell values directly. The solution is to run the PDF through an OCR PDF tool first to extract the text and create a structured version, then convert that output to Excel.
OCR accuracy on tables is good for clean, high-resolution scans. The things that cause errors are merged cells that span multiple columns, cells with no borders between them, handwritten values, and very small fonts. After OCR conversion, review columns with numeric data carefully โ OCR occasionally confuses similar-looking characters like 0 and O, or 1 and l.
Using Microsoft Word as an Intermediate Step
Another approach is to convert the PDF to Word first using a PDF to Word tool, then copy the table from Word into Excel. Word often preserves table borders and cell structure better than going directly to Excel, and once the table is in Word you can clean it up before pasting.
To copy a table from Word to Excel while keeping the cell structure: select the entire table in Word, copy it, click an empty cell in Excel, and paste. Excel places each table cell into a separate spreadsheet cell, maintaining the row and column layout.
Using Excel's Built-In Data From PDF Feature
Microsoft Excel 2016 and later versions include a built-in PDF import feature. Go to Data > Get Data > From File > From PDF. Select the PDF, and Excel opens a Navigator panel showing all the tables it detected in the document. Click the table you want and select Load to import it directly into a worksheet.
This method works well for straightforward tables in native PDFs. Complex multi-column layouts or tables with merged header cells sometimes need cleanup, but the overall result is usually cleaner than copy-paste from a PDF viewer.
Cleaning Up the Excel Output
Regardless of the method, a few cleanup steps are almost always needed after conversion. Check that number formatting is correct โ currency values sometimes import with the symbol attached, requiring a find-and-replace to remove it before the column can be used in calculations. Date columns often import as text and need to be reformatted.
Column headers that spanned multiple rows in the PDF sometimes collapse or split unpredictably. A quick scan of the first few rows against the original PDF confirms everything landed correctly before you start working with the data.