This tutorial will provide four free methods on how to convert PDF to Excel, including using the professional PDF editor and Microsoft tools. And you can easily convert PDF to Excel with or without software.
How to Convert PDF to Excel
When you need to analyze or calculate data in a PDF, converting the entire PDF to Excel is more effective than just extracting the numbers. However, it can be a bit tricky to maintain the file formatting and avoid information loss during conversion.
We provide some free and practical methods to help transform PDFs into spreadsheets in bulk. Online and offline tools and Microsoft 365 apps are all included.
1. Using PDFgear: Free to convert PDF to Excel without losing formatting
2. Using PDFgear online: Convert PDF to Excel online, without registration
3. Save PDF as Excel in Word: For text-based PDF documents
4. Import PDF Data to Excel: For PDFs with complex tables
PDFgear is a free and full-featured PDF converter tool. It can batch-convert PDF files and copy text from PDF to Excel with no file size limit.
The tool has an advanced OCR feature and can accurately convert PDF to Excel without damaging any format. Also, it enables the conversion of PDF pages to Excel files in one sheet.
Follow the steps and get your files transformed:
Step 1. Download and launch PDFgear. Then, choose the “PDF to Excel” option under the “Convert from PDF” tab.
Choose PDF to Excel
Step 2. Click “Add files” in the pop-up window and import the PDF files for conversion. When the files are added, customize the page range and output path.
To convert a PDF to Excel in one sheet, check the “Output In One Sheet” box. Then, click the “Convert” button.
Batch Convert PDFs to Excels with PDFgear
If you need to convert PDF to Excel files across devices or occasionally, you can use the free PDFgear Online PDF to Excel Converter. No sign-up is required to use this converter to convert various files in different formats.
Converting PDF to Excel Online saves time and disk space. You can easily change the file format in just three steps:
Step 1. Go to PDFgear PDF to Excel Converter and click “Upload PDF file” to select the target files. Alternatively, you can drag and drop files there.
Step 2. The conversion automatically starts when the files are added. When the conversion is done, click “Download” to save the Excel document.
If you have Microsoft Word (2013 or higher), you can convert PDF to Excel without other third-party apps. However, for large files or those containing many graphics, the conversion process can be time-consuming.
For smaller documents, you can directly save PDF as Excel in Microsoft Word:
Step 1. Open the Microsoft Word, and click the “File” button to open a PDF document.
Open PDF File in Word
Step 2. After opening the PDF files, save the target PDF document as a .docx or .doc file.
Save the PDF File in Word Format
Step 3. Continue to open the saved .docx or .doc file in Excel.
Open Microsoft Document in Excel
Step 4. Adjust the original PDF document content in Excel and save it as an Excel file (.xlsx or .xls).
Save the PDF File as Excel
If you have no extra text or images in your PDF, you can directly use Excel to import PDF data. However, this may consume more time for PDF and Excel spreadsheets with complex tables.
The program is more suitable for some simple table data:
Step 1. Create a new worksheet in Excel.
Step 2. Select Data > Get Data > From File > From PDF File on the ribbon.
Get Data from PDF in Excel
Step 3. Navigate to the PDF file location and select the destination file.
Step 4. After the data has been successfully imported from PDF, select the desired table and click on Transform Data; then, you can see the table has been successfully imported into Excel.
Click Transform Data to Start Conversion
Most PDF to Excel converters try to preserve the formatting and layout of the original PDF file. However, the accuracy of the conversion may vary depending on the complexity of the document and the quality of the conversion tool.
You may need to manually adjust the formatting in the converted Excel file to match the original PDF.
Yes, some PDF to Excel converters offer Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, which can recognize and extract text from scanned PDFs.
OCR-enabled converters can convert scanned PDFs to Excel, but the accuracy of the conversion may depend on the quality of the scanned document and the OCR technology used.
Microsoft Office does not have a built-in feature to convert PDFs directly to Excel. However, you can open a PDF in Microsoft Word, which will convert the PDF to an editable Word document.
Then, you can copy the relevant data from the Word document and paste it into an Excel spreadsheet.
You may want to convert PDF to Excel to extract and edit data for many reasons. A powerful PDF-to-Excel converter is necessary. PDFgear, as a full-featured PDF editor, allows you to use it online for free or convert large files offline.
Besides, we also provide two additional ways to convert PDF to Excel, including using Microsoft Word and Excel. We believe there is always one that suits your program and enhances your work efficiency!