How to Copy Table from PDF to Excel and Keep Formatting

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Carolyn Ryan
November 16, 2022 Preview 997 Preview 0
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I received a lengthy PDF report via email, and I want to copy an entire table from some pages, also extract specific table columns from some other pages. Copying and pasting is easy to me, but I can’t figure out how to copy table from PDF to Excel and keep the formatting.

The secret to copy table from PDF to Excel with formatting is to find an appropriate tool to do this for you, so you don’t need to manually copy and paste the data, then re-format in the Excel file. No matter you are working on a Mac or Windows PC, here we will recommend following methods for you to copy PDF tables easily and with formatting.

Copy Table from PDF to Excel and Keep Formatting

There are a lot of tools around let user copy table from PDF to Excel and it is good to know that Cisdem PDF Converter OCR has been proved to be an outstanding option.

Cisdem PDF Converter OCR is not the most attractive PDF to Excel app, but it is well and professionally designed for high quality conversion, and supports all types of PDF files and multiple output document formats. It can copy contents from native, scanned even protected PDF, and paste to searchable PDF, editable Word, Excel, PowerPoint, ePub, Keynote, Pages, Text, etc.

Other bonus features include batch copy and paste, process specific pages, create PDF from Word/PowerPoint/Image and so on. It is also worth mentioning that it has a powerful OCR engine, with support of 200+ file languages, it can convert any part from the scanned file to searchable text, to image, even table. Even, you can convert an image in JPG/PNG/BMP/GIF/TIFF to Excel format.

How to Copy Table from PDF to Excel and Keep Formatting?

  1. Download and install Cisdem PDF Converter OCR on Windows or Mac.
    Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7 Free Download macOS 10.14 or later
  2. In the Converter interface, drag and drop the PDF to the program.
  3. Select output format as Excel, and click Advanced Settings to go to more actions. You can combine all pages into a single Excel sheet and apply the setting to all files.pdf-to-excel-cisdem
  4. Click Convert button to save the PDF table as Excel format. 
  5. Now the PDF table is saved in an Excel file with formatting, you can paste to another Excel spreadsheet.

How to Copy and Paste Table from PDF to Excel Online Free

Not sure if you wish to copy and paste tables from PDF to Excel with downloaded program? There is an easy way to extract tables without software, just by doing online in a web browser. Here we will introduce 2 online free tools to copy and paste table from PDF.

#1.Smallpdf

Smallpdf is one of the most famous names in the world of online PDF utilities, it is free to use, but only limited to some tools and 2 documents per day. You cannot access to its OCR feature to copy table from a scanned PDF. If you want full features and deal with more files, you have to sign up with a subscription.

Advantages:

  1. Easy to use
  2. Free to use
  3. Access to a lot of tools: compressor, converter, scanner, split & merge, editor, reader, etc.
  4. Import files from device, Dropbox, Google Drive

Disadvantages:

  1. Need to pay to unlock all features
  2. 2 document per day for free

How to Copy and Paste Table from PDF to Excel Online Free?

  1. Visit smallpdf PDF to Excel converter.
  2. Click Choose Files, and upload PDF from device or cloud drive.copy table from pdf to excel online01
  3. Choose PDF to Editable Excel (no OCR) and click on Choose option.copy pdf table online02
  4. Download the Excel file, open and paste the table to another Excel file.copy pdf table online03

#2.Convertio

Convertio is another online free tool to copy PDF table to excel file, but with an additional OCR feature. That’s to say, Convertio can copy table from both native and scanned PDFs. Also, there are extra handy features included in this online tool, it converts audio, archive, video, presentation, image, document and so on.

Advantages:

  1. Easy to use
  2. Free to use
  3. Copy table from both native and scanned PDF
  4. Upload files from device or cloud drive
  5. A lot of file converters

Disadvantages:

  1. 100 MB maximum file size

How to Copy and Paste Table from PDF to Excel Online Free?

  1. Visit Convertio website.
  2. Click Choose Files and upload the PDF from device or cloud drive.copy pdf table online04
  3. Select format as XLSX. Click Convert.copy pdf table online05
  4. Click Download to save the PDF table into Excel file.copy pdf table online06
  5. Open the Excel file, copy and paste the table to another Excel file.

Copy Table from PDF to Excel Spreadsheet in Acrobat

For users who have installed Adobe Acrobat, you can export the PDF table as Spreadsheet format. And with Acrobat OCR feature, you will be able to copy table from scanned PDF.

How to Copy Table from PDF to Excel in Adobe Acrobat?

  1. Launch Adobe Acrobat. Open PDF in it.
  2. Choose Tools>Export PDF. copy table from pdf to excel adobe 01
  3. Choose Spreadsheet as output. And click Export to save the PDF table as spreadsheet. copy table from pdf to excel adobe 02
  4. Open the spreadsheet file, paste to another file and save.

Free to Copy Table from PDF to Excel, But Manually Adjust Formatting

If you don’t want to copy the table in original formatting by converting the PDF file to Excel format, there is a simple solution: copy table from the PDF, then paste to Excel document and manually adjust the formatting. This method may take time, but you can make the table to be exactly the way you like.

How to Copy Table from PDF to Excel for Free?

  1. If you use Mac, open PDF in Preview; if you use Windows, open PDF in Microsoft Edge browser.
  2. Select the data you want to extract from the PDF table, copy them.copy pdf table manually
  3. Open a Excel Spreadsheet, paste the data to cells.
  4. Use the format options in your Excel processor to adjust the formatting.
  5. Finally, save the Excel file.

Conclusion

There is a Paste Special option in Microsoft Excel, it is designed to copy and paste contents with formatting retained, however, it is not working when copying and pasting a table to Excel. So far, the most efficient way to copy table from PDF to Excel with formatting, is to use a PDF to Excel converter, such as Cisdem PDF Converter OCR, it not only convert files with high quality, but also convert files fast and offer additional features.

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Carolyn Ryan

Carolyn has always been passionate about reading and writing, so she joined Cisdem as an editor as soon as she graduated from university. She focuses on writing how-to articles about PDF editing and conversion.

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