PDF to Excel

This free PDF to Excel converter reads a PDF and writes an XLSX spreadsheet entirely in your browser. Pick a .pdf file or drop one in, choose how the text should be grouped, read the preview, and download it. Nothing leaves your device, and there is no sign-up.

A PDF does not contain a table. It contains pieces of text, each with a position on the page — which is why copying a table out of a PDF often lands everything in one column. So this page has to rebuild the grid: it groups text runs into rows by their vertical position, then works out where the columns are from the horizontal position of every run. Because that is an inference rather than a fact stored in the file, the page tells you what it inferred: how many rows and columns it found, how many rows were missing a value, and — most importantly — whether any page had no text layer at all, which means it is a scan and there is nothing to read.

How to use this PDF to Excel converter

• Choose a .pdf file, or drag one onto the panel. The sample table on the right is converted on load so you can see what the output looks like.
• Pick Extract as: Table (by position) rebuilds rows and columns; Plain text lines writes one cell per line, which suits reports, invoices and statements that are not really a grid.
• If columns come out merged or split, change the Column gap and Row grouping. Looser values merge more; tighter values split more.
• Pick Values: Auto keeps numbers and dates as real cells you can sum and sort; All as text keeps everything as text, which is safest for IDs and codes. Then press Convert to Excel and read What the extraction found before you download.

What this tool supports

Tables rebuilt from position

Every text run on the page carries coordinates. Rows are formed by grouping runs whose vertical position is within a small distance of each other, and columns are formed by clustering the left edge of every run. Anything that shares a column lands in the same cell, separated by a space when a cell holds more than one run — which is how Alice Brown stays one cell instead of two.

Numbers and dates stay as real cells

In Auto mode a value that looks like a number or a sum is written as an actual numeric cell, so you can calculate with it the moment you open the file. A value that starts with = or @ is kept as text so a spreadsheet never runs it as a formula. Leading zeros and fixed-width IDs (like 007 or a 16-digit card number) are kept as text too, so they are not silently truncated or rounded. Set Values to All as text when every column is an identifier.

Pages with no text layer are named, not dropped

A scanned document, a photograph or a screenshot saved as a PDF has no text in it at all — only pixels. Extracting from those needs OCR, which this page does not run. Instead of handing you a short file and saying nothing, it lists exactly which pages have no text layer.

Every page, in order

All pages are read in order and written into one sheet. A table that continues across pages comes out as continued rows; the header line is whatever the PDF printed at the top of each page, because that is what is on the page.

Two downloads

Press Download .xlsx for a real spreadsheet. Download .csv is there too if you want the plain-text version, with values containing the delimiter, a double quote or a line break wrapped in double quotes so nothing splits.

Privacy and limits

The PDF is parsed on your own device by JavaScript running in the page. No file is uploaded, nothing is stored after you close the tab, and there is no account. Because parsing happens in your browser's memory, very large documents (hundreds of pages) take longer; ordinary statements, invoices and reports take a moment. Password-protected files are refused with a clear message rather than being probed.

What this tool does not do

• No OCR. If a page is an image, there is no text to read. The page is named so you know, and nothing is guessed for it.
• No password handling. A protected PDF is refused. Unlock it first, then convert the unlocked copy.
• No ruling-line detection. Columns come from where the text sits, not from drawn table lines, so a borderless table works and a heavily decorated one may need the gap settings adjusted.
• No merged-cell or multi-level-header reconstruction. A header that spans two columns, or a cell that belongs to several rows, comes out as ordinary cells. Check the output before you rely on it.
• No merging of files. One PDF at a time, no batch mode.
• No promise of perfection. Position-based extraction is an inference. The report tells you what it inferred so you can check it, not so you can skip checking.

Frequently asked questions