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How to convert a PDF to Excel (tables, statements and invoices)

Published October 28, 2026 by Jason Nel

Retyping a table from a PDF is slow and easy to get wrong. A converter can usually put each value into the right cell in seconds, as long as you know what kind of PDF you have and what to check afterwards.

First, check what kind of PDF you have

Try to select a word in the PDF with your mouse. If the text highlights, the PDF contains real text and can be converted directly. If the whole page highlights as one picture, or nothing highlights, it’s a scan: a photo of a page with no text inside. Scans need text recognition first; see the last section.

How to convert a PDF to Excel step by step

  1. Open PDF to Excel and choose your PDF. It’s converted in your browser, which matters for bank statements and payroll reports.
  2. Pick what to convert:
    • All text puts everything on the page into the sheet, row by row. Use it for statements and lists that aren’t drawn as a grid.
    • Tables only keeps just the tables drawn with lines and skips the rest. It’s handy for pulling the figures out of a long report.
  3. Choose one worksheet per page, or a single sheet with every page one after the other. A single sheet is easier for long statements you want to sort or filter.
  4. Click Convert to Excel and open the .xlsx file in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers or LibreOffice.

How the table is rebuilt

A PDF doesn’t store tables. It stores where each piece of text sits on the page and where lines are drawn. The converter works backwards from that:

  • Tables drawn with lines (most invoices and many reports) are rebuilt from the lines, so each value lands in the right row and column, with borders. Cells merged across columns stay merged.
  • Text without lines is placed row by row. Where several rows share the same gaps, as in most bank statements, each column goes into its own cell.
  • Numbers stay numbers. Values such as 1,234.50, $99, (250) and 12% are stored as real numbers with a matching format, so SUM and sorting work at once. Codes with leading zeros, like 00123, are kept as text so the zeros aren’t lost.

What to check after converting

  • Totals. Add up a column and compare it with the total printed in the PDF. It’s the quickest way to catch a missing or merged row.
  • Wrapped descriptions. A description that runs over two lines in the PDF can become two rows. Join them up where needed.
  • Columns that drift. In tables without lines, a very long value can push into the next column. Look down each column for anything out of place.
  • Dates. Check that dates were read the way you expect (day/month or month/day) before you sort by them.

Scanned statements and photos of tables

A scan has no text to extract, so the spreadsheet would come out empty. Run the file through OCR PDF first to add a text layer, then convert that file to Excel. Clean, straight scans at 300 dpi give the best columns; see our guide to making a scanned PDF searchable.