Convert tables from a PDF into an Excel (.xlsx) spreadsheet, free and right in your browser. Best-effort extraction: works well on clean, well-structured tables, and the preview below shows you exactly what was detected before you download.
PDF to Excel
Extract tabular data from a PDF into an Excel (.xlsx) file — best-effort for well-structured tables.
Quick answer
Convert PDF tables to Excel online free. Upload a PDF, and the tool detects table-like data using text-position heuristics, previews what it found, and downloads an editable .xlsx workbook — entirely in your browser. Best-effort for well-structured, digitally-generated tables; scanned or heavily designed layouts will not extract cleanly (see the FAQ for honest accuracy expectations).
Drag & drop a PDF here
or click to browse
PDF files only — up to 20MB each
Table extraction from PDFs is best-effort. Clean, digitally-generated tables convert well; scanned PDFs (image only) contain no text and cannot be converted.
How to convert a PDF to Excel
PDFs store visual positions, not table structure, so extracting tables is a heuristic process. This tool groups text pieces into visual rows using pdf.js coordinates, splits rows into cells where column-like gaps appear, previews the detected tables, and writes the result to an .xlsx workbook with SheetJS. It works best on clean, grid-like tables in digitally-generated PDFs.
Upload a PDF
Drag and drop a digitally-generated PDF (one with selectable text) onto the tool.
Review the preview
The tool lists every table it detected with a preview of the extracted rows and columns, so you can check accuracy before downloading.
Download the .xlsx
Click Download .xlsx to save the workbook — one sheet per detected table, ready to open in Excel, LibreOffice or Google Sheets.
When PDF to Excel conversion helps
Reuse report data
Turn financial figures or inventory tables from a supplier's PDF into a spreadsheet you can sort, filter and chart.
Consolidate statements
Pull tabular line items from bank or utility statements into Excel for bookkeeping.
Rebuild lost spreadsheets
Someone emailed you data as a PDF instead of the original spreadsheet — extract the tables back out.
Key features
Table preview before download
See exactly what was detected — every table with its rows — before you commit to the Excel file.
One sheet per table
Each detected table becomes its own worksheet in the .xlsx, named for the page it came from.
Honest accuracy
PDF table extraction is imperfect even in premium tools. This one previews its results so you can judge quality immediately.
Supported formats
- Input: PDF (.pdf) with a selectable text layer, up to 20 MB
- Output: Excel workbook (.xlsx), one sheet per detected table
Privacy and security
Limitations
- Scanned PDFs (image-only) cannot be converted — they have no text layer to extract.
- Merged cells, multi-line wrapped cells and nested headers may misalign or split incorrectly.
- Column detection is heuristic: tightly-packed or irregular tables can produce shifted or empty cells.
- Cell formatting (colors, borders, formulas) is not reproduced — values are written as plain cells.
Related Tools
All toolsFrequently Asked Questions
How accurate is PDF to Excel conversion?
It depends on your PDF. Clean, digitally-generated tables with clearly separated columns convert well. Complex layouts, merged cells, multi-line wrapped rows, and scanned (image-only) PDFs will produce incomplete or misaligned data. This tool is best-effort by design — always check the output before relying on it.
Can it convert scanned PDFs?
No. Scanned PDFs are images without a text layer, so there is nothing to extract — the tool will tell you when it finds no tables. Free OCR-based table extraction is not supported here.
How does the table detection work?
It uses text-position heuristics: pdf.js extracts every text piece with its exact coordinates, pieces are grouped into visual rows, and rows are split into cells wherever the horizontal gap between neighbours is much larger than a normal word space — the pattern real tables leave between columns.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
No. Extraction and Excel generation run entirely in your browser using pdf.js and SheetJS. Your file is read into local memory and the .xlsx is saved by your own browser — nothing is uploaded or stored.
Why does my output have empty cells or shifted columns?
PDFs store visual positions, not table structure. When a cell spans multiple text lines or columns aren't perfectly aligned, the heuristic can misplace data. Try a cleaner source PDF, or fix up the result in Excel — the output is a starting point, not a guaranteed reconstruction.