PDF to Excel
Extract tables and data from PDF files straight into editable Excel XLSX spreadsheets. Powered by professional conversion infrastructure.
Drop a PDF file here
or click to choose — PDF
Choose PDF fileHow to convert PDF to Excel
- Click "Choose PDF file" or drag a PDF into the box above.
- Click "Convert to Excel".
- Your editable XLSX downloads automatically in ~10–30 seconds.
What "PDF to Excel" can — and can't — do
PDF to Excel is the most-asked-for and most-misunderstood conversion in the PDF world. Here's what's actually happening: a PDF that contains tabular-looking data doesn't necessarily contain a table. The PDF spec doesn't have a "table" concept at all — it has text positioned at specific coordinates, with optional rectangles drawn behind. A converter has to look at those coordinates, infer where rows and columns are, and rebuild the table structure from scratch.
This means:
- PDFs born from a spreadsheet (a PDF exported from Excel, Google Sheets, or LibreOffice Calc) convert near-perfectly. The text alignment is regular, columns are clearly defined, and the converter has plenty of structural cues. Expect a faithful XLSX.
- PDFs of clean, well-laid-out tables (a financial report, a bank statement, a product catalogue with a tabular section) usually convert well. Some columns may need width adjustment after import, and merged-cell headers can sometimes split.
- Complex multi-column reports with mixed text and tables — the converter does its best, but you may need to copy and clean up sections by hand. Expect more cleanup work.
- Scanned PDFs (images of tables) — won't work. There's no text to extract, only pixels. OCR is required first; the converter cannot do this.
Setting honest expectations: for born-digital tabular PDFs, the result is usable as-is. For everything else, the conversion gives you a starting point that's much faster than re-typing — but expect some cleanup.
When to use PDF to Excel
- Importing bank statements into a personal-finance tool. Most banks export PDFs of statements; converting to Excel makes it easy to categorise, sum, or feed into a budget spreadsheet.
- Recovering data from PDF reports. Annual reports, government statistics, market research — the data is in the PDF, but you need it in Excel to analyse, chart, or aggregate.
- Building a price comparison. Supplier PDF catalogues with itemised pricing can be converted to Excel and compared side-by-side.
- Migrating old data. Legacy reports archived as PDFs become editable data again when converted back to Excel — useful for audits and historical analysis.
- Combining several PDFs into one master spreadsheet. Convert each PDF, then concatenate the rows. Much faster than retyping.
- Extracting tables from research papers. Academic PDFs often contain summary tables. Convert to extract them as data, not just text.
How PDFtez converts PDF to Excel (under the hood)
Like the other Office-format conversions, PDF to Excel needs a real server-side conversion engine — open-source JavaScript libraries can't reliably reconstruct table structure from positional PDF data. PDFtez uses the same transparent pipeline as the other cloud tools:
- Your file is uploaded over HTTPS through a Cloudflare Worker (
pdftez-api.paritosyd.workers.dev). - The Worker passes the file to CloudConvert (Lunaweb Ltd, Germany), which runs the PDF-to-XLSX conversion.
- The XLSX file is sent back to your browser and offered as a download.
- CloudConvert auto-deletes uploaded files and outputs shortly after the job finishes — typically within 24 hours.
- PDFtez does not store a copy at any stage.
If the PDF contains highly sensitive or confidential information, consider whether the brief server-side processing is acceptable. Our Privacy Policy describes this in full.
How is PDFtez PDF→Excel different?
Converters fall into the familiar three groups: server-based free tools with daily limits or ads (iLovePDF, SmallPDF, PDF24); professional subscription products (Adobe Acrobat, Nitro); and specialised desktop apps (Tabula, ABBYY FineReader). PDFtez uses the same engine class as the professional options but wrapped in a friction-free interface — no sign-up, no upgrade prompts, no daily limit, no watermark.
For genuinely complex tables (multi-line cells, deeply nested headers, merged cells across pages), a dedicated desktop tool like ABBYY FineReader can do a better job because it has fine-grained extraction controls. For routine PDF tables, PDFtez covers it.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is the conversion?
It depends on the PDF. PDFs exported from Excel/Sheets typically convert near-perfectly. PDFs with one clean table on each page usually convert well with minor cleanup. PDFs with complex multi-column layouts or scanned tables will need significant cleanup or won't work at all. Preview the result before treating it as final.
Can it convert scanned PDFs (images of tables)?
No — a scanned PDF is an image, with no embedded text or table structure. Converting it to Excel produces empty cells or images embedded into the spreadsheet, not data. Run OCR first (Google Docs or Adobe Acrobat can do this) to get a text-layered PDF, then convert. OCR support is on the PDFtez roadmap.
Will formulas come across?
No. PDFs don't store formulas — only the final values. The output spreadsheet will contain the numbers as static values, not as formulas. If you need a live model, you'll have to add the formulas back manually after converting.
Are my files uploaded? Where do they go?
Yes — unlike most PDFtez tools, this one needs a server. Your file is uploaded over HTTPS via a Cloudflare Worker and processed by CloudConvert (a third-party conversion service in Germany). Files are auto-deleted by the conversion provider shortly after the job finishes — typically within 24 hours. PDFtez itself does not retain a copy. See our Privacy Policy for full detail.
Will the converted file open in Google Sheets and Apple Numbers?
Yes. The output is a standard .xlsx file that opens in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc, and Apple Numbers. Some advanced formatting (very specific border styles, certain number formats) may render slightly differently in non-Excel tools, but the data itself comes across faithfully.
Does it work on mobile?
Yes — the conversion runs in the cloud, so any device with a modern browser works. Useful when a PDF arrives on your phone and you want to extract the table data without opening Excel.