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Extract a PDF table into Excel

PDFind inserts the table you select into your current workbook and records PDF source references for review.

Before you start

Open PDFind inside Excel and sign in. Use a blank area of your workbook for the import. Digital PDFs with consistently aligned columns are the easiest to check.

Insert a table

  1. Add the PDF. Open the document in PDFind and go to the page containing your table.
  2. Choose the destination. Select the Excel cell where the top-left corner of the table should go.
  3. Choose Select a table. Draw a rectangle around the table in the PDF.
  4. Check the result in Excel. PDFind inserts the recognized rows and columns directly. If destination cells contain data, it asks before replacing them.
  5. Review the source. Select an inserted cell to return to its highlighted PDF source. Check amounts, dates and column alignment.

Example: invoice line items

Select an invoice table containing Description, Quantity and Amount. If the selected destination is B4, the imported table begins there. Compare a quantity and an amount with the PDF before calculating totals or using the result in another report.

When the result needs adjustment

Merged cells, irregular columns, nested tables and low-quality scans can produce imperfect results. A narrower selection may work better. For a single column of text, Select a list inserts one recognized line per Excel row.

If you correct a value in Excel, PDFind marks that source entry Cell changed. The original PDF is no longer presented as verification of the edited value. Read how source checking works.

Working from a scan?

Read the scanned PDF guide and the supported-file limits before relying on OCR output.