How to Extract Data from PDF to Excel: 3 Easy Ways

The cleanest way to extract data from a PDF to Excel is Data > Get Data > From File > From PDF, if your version has it. If it does not, or the PDF is a scan, there are two other routes below.

A PDF holds data in a layout, not a structure, which is why copying a table out of one and pasting it into Excel usually produces a mess. There are three reliable routes to getting it in properly, and the right one depends on which Excel you have and whether the PDF contains real text or a picture of text.

Start with method one, because if it is available to you it is by far the best of the three. Our AI for Excel page covers the wider question of working with imported data once it lands.

First, check which kind of PDF you have

This determines everything that follows, and it takes five seconds.

Open the PDF and try to select a line of text with your cursor. If the text highlights, the PDF has a real text layer and methods 1 and 2 apply. If nothing highlights and you can only draw a box around the page, it is a scan or an image export, and method 3 is the one written for you.

That distinction is the reason two people following the same guide get opposite results.

Method 1: Import a PDF into Excel with the PDF connector

The best route by a wide margin, and the answer to how to import a PDF into Excel properly, because it pulls structured tables straight in and can be refreshed later rather than repeated by hand.

1. Open Excel and go to the Data tab.
2. In the Get & Transform Data group, select Get Data.
3. Select From File, then From PDF.
4. Choose your PDF and select Import.
5. In the Navigator window, Excel lists every table it found and every page. Select one to see a preview on the right.
6. Select Load to bring it straight into a sheet, or Transform Data to clean it up first.

Two things worth knowing about the Navigator. It lists tables and pages separately, and you should prefer a table where one exists, because selecting a page brings in the surrounding headers and page furniture that you then have to strip out. And if a table runs across several pages, each page appears as its own entry, which you can combine in the editor.

Choose Transform Data rather than Load if the preview looks at all wrong. Split columns, promoted headers, and removed blank rows are all a couple of clicks in the editor, and the whole sequence is saved as a query. When next month's PDF arrives, you point the query at the new file and refresh rather than starting over.

If From PDF is missing.

Two reasons, and only one has a fix.

You are on Excel for Mac. The PDF connector is not available in Excel on macOS. This is a genuine platform gap rather than a setting, and no amount of updating will produce the option. Use method 2 or 3.

You are on an older or restricted build. The connector also depends on a supporting framework being installed on your machine, and Excel will tell you if a component is missing when you first try to use it. Installing what it names usually resolves it.

Method 2: Route it through Word

The reliable fallback, and the one to use on a Mac.

1. Right-click the PDF file and choose Open with, then Microsoft Word.
2. Word warns that it is converting the file and that the result may differ from the original. Accept it.
3. Wait for the conversion. Long documents take a while.
4. Select the table in Word, copy it, and paste it into Excel.

Word can often reconstruct simpler tables as real Word tables, which then paste into Excel cells properly rather than dumping everything into one column. Microsoft's own guidance is that a converted document may not match the original exactly, and complex layouts frequently need cleanup afterward. It is not as clean as the connector and it is not repeatable, but it needs no additional software beyond Word itself.

Paste using Paste Special and choose text if the formatting comes through badly. You lose the styling and keep the structure, which is the right trade for data you are about to work with anyway.

Method 3: Data from Picture, for scanned PDFs

The route most guides miss, and the answer when the PDF is an image rather than text.

Excel can read a table out of a picture. That means a scanned PDF does not have to go through a separate optical character recognition tool first: you capture the page as an image and let Excel interpret it.

1. Open the PDF and bring the table you want on screen.
2. Press Windows key + Shift + S and drag a box around the table to copy it to the clipboard.
3. In Excel, go to the Data tab, select From Picture, then Picture From Clipboard. You can also choose Picture From File if you already have the page saved as an image.
4. Excel analyzes the image and shows a review panel with anything it is unsure about highlighted.
5. Work through the flagged items, correcting each one, then select Insert Data.

On a Mac the command sits under Insert rather than Data, and it can also pull from an iPhone camera.

Review every flagged value. This step is not optional. The feature tells you which readings it is unsure about, and a misread digit in a financial table is exactly the error that survives to the end of a spreadsheet.

Where it stops: it requires Microsoft 365, it supports a defined list of languages rather than all of them, and it works page by page rather than across a long document. Quality of the source image matters more than anything else.

If none of the three work

Dedicated PDF tools and online converters will produce an .xlsx from a PDF, and for one awkward file they are sometimes the fastest answer. Two cautions.

Do not upload anything confidential to a free online converter. Bank statements, invoices with client details, payroll, and medical documents should not go to a third-party service you have not assessed. Methods 1 to 3 avoid handing the document to an unknown third party.

Expect to clean up afterward. Converters guess at structure, so merged headers, columns split in the wrong place, and numbers imported as text are all normal.

Bank statements, and why they are the awkward case

Converting a bank statement PDF to Excel is one of the most common versions of this task and one of the worst served, because the two obvious routes are both bad.

Statements are frequently produced as text-layer PDFs with the transactions in a real table, in which case method 1 works and is by far the best option, since next month's statement becomes a refresh rather than a repeat. Older statements and anything downloaded as an image are scans, which puts you on method 3.

What you should not do is upload a bank statement to a free online converter. It contains your account number, your balance, and every place you spent money last month, and it would be going to a third party under a retention policy you have not read. This is an easy way to hand over financial data without noticing. Both Microsoft routes above keep the file inside software you already have.

If your bank offers a CSV or OFX export, take it. No conversion beats no conversion.

How to fix the three things that always go wrong

Whichever method you use, the same problems come up.

Numbers arriving as text. Right-aligned figures that will not sum. Select the column, then use Data, then Text to Columns, and finish the wizard without changing anything, which forces Excel to re-evaluate each value.

One column split into two. Common when a PDF puts extra spacing inside a cell. In the Power Query editor, select the two columns and merge them. Outside the editor, use a formula to join them and then paste the result as values.

Headers repeated on every page. If you imported page by page, each page brings its own header row. Filter the header text out after combining, or promote the first row and delete the repeats.

Which method to use

Windows, Microsoft 365, and a PDF you will receive again: method 1, and build the query properly so future files are a refresh.

Mac, or an older Excel: method 2.

A scanned PDF: method 3. Capture the table as an image and let Excel read it, then review every value it flags.

One awkward file that resists all three: a dedicated PDF to Excel tool or converter, provided the contents are not sensitive.

A note on menus that move

The Get Data path has moved between Excel versions, and the connector list differs between Windows, Mac, and the web, which is why so many guides on this topic do not match what is on your screen. Guidy reads the Excel window you have open and points at the actual command rather than describing one from another version, which is the underlying problem behind most of the frustration here. It is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription, and the pricing page has the details.

Key takeaways

• To extract data from a PDF to Excel, check first whether the PDF has selectable text. If it does, use method 1. If it does not, it is a scan and method 3 is the one for you.
• Data > Get Data > From File > From PDF is the best route. The Navigator lists tables and pages separately, and tables are cleaner.
• The PDF connector does not exist in Excel for Mac. Open the PDF in Word and copy the table across instead.
• Data > From Picture reads a table out of a screenshot, which is how to get a scanned PDF into Excel without a separate OCR tool.
• Never upload confidential documents to a free online converter. The three methods here avoid handing your file to an unknown third party.

FAQs

How can I get data from PDF to Excel?

Three ways, in order of preference. On Windows with Microsoft 365, use Data > Get Data > From File > From PDF, which imports the tables directly and can be refreshed against next month's file. On a Mac, or where that connector is unavailable, open the PDF in Word and copy the table across. If the PDF is a scan with no selectable text, screenshot the table and use Data > From Picture, then check every value Excel flags.

Why is From PDF missing from my Get Data menu?

The most likely reason is that you are using Excel on a Mac, where the PDF connector is not offered at all. On Windows it can also be missing on older builds, or Excel may report that a supporting component needs installing the first time you try it, in which case installing what it names enables the option.

How do I import a table that spans several pages?

Import it with the PDF connector and look for each page as a separate entry in the Navigator. Select them all, then combine them in the Power Query editor and filter out the repeated header rows. That is more reliable than trying to import the whole document as one object.

Why do my imported numbers not add up?

They almost certainly arrived as text rather than numbers, which is the most common import problem. Select the column and run Data > Text to Columns, clicking through to Finish without changing any settings. That forces Excel to re-evaluate every value in the column and convert what it can.

How do I convert a bank statement PDF to Excel?

If the statement has selectable text, use the PDF connector under Data > Get Data > From File > From PDF, and build it as a query so next month is a refresh rather than a repeat. If it is a scan, screenshot the table and use Data > From Picture. Check your bank's download options first, though, because many offer CSV or OFX directly and that beats any conversion. What to avoid is a free online converter: a statement carries your account number, your balance, and your entire month of spending, and uploading it hands all of that to a third party under a retention policy you have probably not read.