PDFs are great for preserving and sharing documents, but what if you need to make changes to your spreadsheet? Convert you PDF to Excel, first!
Are you looking for a step-by-step guide to convert PDF to Excel for free? Read on!
While PDF and Excel are two of the most popular and widely-used file formats, they have different uses.
PDFs are best used to store, preserve, and share documents. While Excel files are spreadsheets used to format, organize, and calculate data.
So, if you need to rearrange data or perform further analysis, you'll want to work on the original Excel file. If you don't have access to it, then you'll need to convert the PDF to Excel.
But how do you convert a PDF to Excel?
From our experience, PDF to Excel conversions are seldom perfect. Expect to have to edit or redo data or formatting in your new Excel workbook.
However, some methods are better than others, and it's probably easier than you think.
That's why we've created this guide: to compile the best and easiest methods for converting PDFs to Excel in 2024 for Window, Mac, and Mobile!
Here are some important tips to keep in mind when converting a PDF to Excel:
There main benefit of converting PDF to Excel is that data-entry, calculations, and formatting tables is much easier on Excel than PDF.
While PDF editors make it easy to edit PDFs, PDFs are often the used to preserve and share the content in documents. If you're using or changing the data in the spreadsheet, you'll want to work on it in Excel format.
There are a few different formats when it comes to Excel workbooks, but we'll refer to the most common one (.xlsx) in this guide.
There's more than one way to convert PDFs to Excel, ranging from using Microsoft Office products, to using online converters.
The best way to convert a PDF to Excel for free, online is with an online PDF to Excel converter.
A good online converter can instantly convert a PDF to Excel in your browser, from almost any device. Without needing to install or buy additional software.
We recommend PDF Pro's PDF to Excel Converter. No sign-up or email is required, and there's no limit on how many times you can use this free tool.
1. Visit PDF Pro's PDF to Excel Converter.
2. Upload your PDF.
3. Follow the on-screen prompts.
4. Download your file.
If you are able to select the text within your PDF, then copy and pasting the data to Excel may be a sufficient solution for you.
Note: If you're unable to select the text within the PDF, you'll need to try a different method in this guide.
1. Open the PDF that you want the data from.
2. Select and copy the data: right-click > Copy, or press [ctrl] + [c] on your keyboard.
3. Launch Microsoft Excel.
4. Open a blank workbook, or an existing one.
5. Select where you want to Paste the data, then right-click > Paste, or press [ctrl] + [v] on your keyboard.
Tip: you may want to consider using different Paste options with your data. You can access Paste Special options from the Home tab > Paste button > Paste Special...
If you have access to Microsoft Word (or Office), you can use it open a PDF in Word, copy the data, then paste the data from the PDF to an Excel spreadsheet.
This is especially helpful if you can't copy the text from the PDF, itself.
1. Launch Microsoft Word.
2. Press Open > Browse.
3. Find and Open the PDF you want to convert.
4. Click Ok.
5. Turn off Protect View: Click Enable Editing of the Word document (if necessary).
6. Select the text and information you need: right-click > Copy, or press [ctrl] + [c] on your keyboard.
7. Launch Microsoft Excel.
8. Open a blank workbook, or an existing one.
9. Select where you want to Paste the data, then right-click > Paste, or press [ctrl] + [v] on your keyboard.
Tip: you may want to consider using different Paste options with your data. You can access Paste Special options from the Home tab > Paste button > Paste Special...
If you work with PDF and Excel files on a regular basis, then you'll want to invest in a PDF editor.
A good PDF editor can instantly convert PDF to Excel (and vice versa), instantly. And can even batch convert multiple PDFs to Excel files.
When it comes to PDF editors, we recommend PDF Pro: our all-in-one PDF editor, converter, OCR tool, and more. It's powerful, affordable, and easy to use. Try PDF Pro for Free.
If you pay for Adobe Acrobat DC, you can use it to convert PDFs to Excel. Please note: this method isn't available in free versions of Acrobat DC or Adobe Reader.
Mac users have more than one option when it comes to converting PDF to Excel.
They can use Preview or Automator, that come built-in Mac OS, to copy and paste the data from a PDF to an Excel workbook for free.
For more reliable methods, Mac users will want to invest in a good PDF editor.
Preview is the built-in image and PDF viewer for Mac. You can use it to copy and paste text, data, and tables from PDF to a new Excel workbook, for free.
Automator is a built-in app that's used to automate repetitive tasks on Mac.
Like the Preview method, you can set up Automator to extract the data from a PDF and paste it into an Excel file.
The best way to convert PDF to Excel on Mac is by using a PDF editor.
A good PDF editor can instantly convert PDF to Excel.
For this example, we'll use PDF Expert, a PDF editor designed specifically for Mac OS. But the methods will be similar on the PDF editor of your choice.
The easiest ways to convert PDF to Excel on mobile devices are by using an online converter or trusted app from the app store.
There are many apps and online converters, so it's important to choose a reputable one.
In this example we'll be using PDF Pro's PDF to Excel Converter, since it's easy to use, safe, 100% free. But the steps will be similar on the PDF tool of your choice.
1. In the browser of your choice, visit PDF Pro's PDF to Excel Converter.
2. Upload the PDF that you want to convert.
3. Follow the on-screen prompts.
4. Download your file.
If you have a lot of PDFs that need to be converted to separate Excel files, then you'll want take advantage a PDF editor that's capable of batch processing.
For this, we recommend PDF Pro: it can convert multiple PDFs to Excel (or other formats), at the same time, in just a few clicks.
1. In PDF Pro, press File.
2. Batch processing > Convert to Excel.
3. Press Continue.
4. Click Add files.
5. Select and Open the PDF files that you want to convert to Excel.
6. Once you've added all the PDFs you want to convert, press Convert.
If you need to enter data, calculate figures, or perform further analysis, then you'll want to use convert your PDF to Excel, first.
Keep in mind, that no method is perfect, so you may have to redo some of the data, formatting, etc.
We've listed the easiest and best solutions to convert PDF to Excel, from almost any device!
If you need an online converter, check out PDF Pro's PDF to Excel converter. It's safe, easy to use, and 100% free.
If you work on convert files to and from PDF on a regular basis, then you'll want to invest in a good PDF editor.
We recommend PDF Pro: our all-in-one PDF editor, converter, OCR and security tool, made specifically for Windows.
PDF Pro is lightweight, works on most Windows computers, is powerful, and affordable.
Other things that make PDF Pro awesome:
Here are some commonly asked questions about converting PDF to Excel that we've answered for your benefit.
Use a free, online PDF to Excel converter like ours. Steps: Visit PDF Pro's PDF to Excel Converter > Upload PDF > Follow on-screen prompts > Press Convert to Excel > Download.
You can't open a PDF directly in Excel. However, you can attach it as a hyperlink in Excel, so that it will be opened when someone clicks the link.
Convert PDF to Excel isn't perfect, so some formatting issues may occur regardless of the method you choose. For the most accurate conversion, use a PDF editor like PDF Pro that specializes in converting files to-and-from PDF.
No, but there are PDF to Excel converters on their app store. You can also use Microsoft Office/Word to help you copy and paste data from a PDF to an Excel file.
One method is to Copy the data from the PDF, then Paste it into a blank Excel workbook.
Another method is by using Excel's data-extraction function: Click Data > Data from Picture > select the PDF you want to convert.
Both methods will most likely require you to redo the formatting and organization of the data.
You can try copy-and-pasting the data from the PDF to an Excel workbook. You can also use Excel's data-extraction function: Click Data > Data from Picture > select the PDF you want to convert.
Both methods aren't perfect, so you'll likely have to redo some formatting and organization in Excel.
You can use Preview or Automator to try and copy-and-paste data from the PDF to Excel, but this only works on PDFs where you can select the text.
A more reliable method is by using a PDF editor for Mac, like PDF Expert. Steps: Open PDF Expert > open the PDF > Export > to Excel > Name your new Excel file > Save.
To convert a PDF to Excel on Mobile, you can either use a reputable app from the app store, or use an online PDF to Excel converter. For this example, we'll use our free, online PDF to Excel Converter.
Steps: Visit PDF Pro's PDF to Excel Converter > Upload PDF > Follow on-screen prompts > Press Convert to Excel > Download.
You'll need to pay for Adobe Acrobat, this won't work on free versions or with Adobe Reader.
Steps: Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat > Press Export PDF > Select spreadsheet as the export format > Select Microsoft Excel Workbook > Export > Name your new Excel file > Save.
