Convert PDF to Excel
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At first glance these results seem to be very good. You can use our PDF converter in your browser to convert PDF to Excel, and this guide will show you how. SendKeys method mirrors the above: expression. This was a binary file format.
Drag the original PDF onto a Web browser window to open it, and then resize the windows to compare them side-by-side or up-and-down. When the particular file format you're using isn't supported by Excel, importing data may be slightly more complicated.
Convert PDF to Excel - The main purpose of this line of code is to create a variable representing the Word application in order to expose the Word object model. Inaccuracies in the amount of time you use as argument for the Application.
In there, I explain how you can use VBA to implement the 3 PDF to Excel conversion methods I discuss below, and provide macro code examples. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. In some of these cases, the tools you require to do the job are readily available in Excel's Get External Data group of commands within the Data tab. However, the Get External Data group of commands isn't the topic of this blog post. When the particular file format you're using isn't supported by Excel, importing data may be slightly more complicated. As a general matter, I have no problems with these limitations. You probably won't encounter such problems very frequently as long as you don't work with obscure file formats that aren't supported by Excel. There is, however, one big exception to this rule. This is a particular file format whose data is not that easy to bring into Excel despite being very popular and widely used: PDF. For example, according to , the Federal Government of the USA is the largest PDF user. If you're anything like me, you probably encounter PDF files at work almost every day. In some of those cases, you may need to analyze the data within a particular PDF file with Excel. If you're in such a situation, you may ask: How can you convert a PDF file into an Excel worksheet? You may have also noticed that successfully converting a PDF file into an Excel worksheet is hard. As explained by at the Udemy blog, doing this requires knowledge of both Excel and PDF. At the same time, the ability to accurately and quickly convert PDF files to Excel is very valuable. According to the Udemy blog post I link to above: Once you understand the process of converting PDF to Excel and have learned more about what type of data analysis you can do with Excel, you will likely start to see all kinds of possibilities, both personally and professionally. My purpose with this blog post is to help you easily convert PDF files to Excel worksheets. Among other things, I explain 3 different methods you can use to convert a PDF file to Excel and some criteria you can use to determine which method to use. The methods are organized from the simplest which also returns the less precise results to the most advanced usually providing the most accurate conversions. You can use the following table of contents to navigate to the relevant section where I explain the method that you're interested in. Before I explain each of the methods that you can use to convert a PDF file to Excel, let's start by taking a look at: What Are PDF Files The acronym PDF stands for Portable Document Format. In very broad terms the PDF format is a digital format that you can use to represent electronic documents. The reason for this is that the PDF file itself carries the complete description of the document layout and all the information that is necessary to correctly display the electronic document. The International Organization for Standardization ISO summarizes the appeal of PDF documents by stating : PDF … allows users to exchange and view the documents easily and reliably, independent of the environments in which they are created, viewed and printed, while preserving their content and visual appearance. As a consequence of the above, when you use the PDF format to represent a document, the formatting is preserved regardless of the software, hardware or operating system used when the file is opened later. A further advantage of the PDF file format is that PDF files are compact. Considering the above, it isn't that difficult to see why the PDF file format is so widely used. This explains why my cheat sheet with keyboard shortcuts for Excel which you can get is saved and shared as a PDF file. The PDF format enables me to set i a particular formatting for the document, and ii share it with you. Later, once you open the document, you'll see the list of keyboard shortcuts in the format that I originally intended. Microsoft in the webpage I link to above does mention an additional important characteristic of PDF files that, in the end, is what gives rise to the topic of this blog post: Data within a PDF file can't be easily changed. Depending on your perspective, you may consider this to be an advantage or a disadvantage. One example of such a scenario is if you work in the legal services industry. Most Excel users, you and me included, found ourselves in the second camp most of the time. We need to work with the data within the PDF file. Therefore, we usually want to have the ability to convert a PDF file to Excel. I assume that you also want to have the ability to convert PDF files to Excel, so let's take a look at some of the most popular methods to bring data from PDF files into Excel: Method 1 To Convert PDF Files To Excel: Copy And Paste The most basic method of bringing data from a PDF file into Excel is to simply. As explained by Excel authority John Walkenbach in the Excel 2016 Bible, you have a good chance of being able to paste data into an Excel workbook if you're able to copy the data from another application. Since some but not all PDF files allow you to copy data, there are cases in which you may be able to bring all the data you require into Excel by using the basic commands of copy and paste. Let's take a look at a practical example of how you can copy and paste data from certain PDF files into Excel: The following screenshot shows a table within a pdf document. More precisely, you can find this table in page 22 of the Working Paper from the European Central Bank titled by Magdalena Grothe and Aidan Meyler. Throughout this blog post, I show the results obtained when applying each of the different methods to convert this table from PDF to Excel. This Convert PDF to Excel Tutorial is accompanied by an Excel workbook containing these results. You can get immediate free access to this example workbook by subscribing to the Power Spreadsheets Newsletter. Step 1: Select And Copy The Data The first step to copy data from a PDF file is to, simply, select the relevant data and copy it. Step 2: Paste The Data Into Excel Once you've copied the relevant data from the PDF file, and this is available on the Clipboard, you need to go to Excel and paste it. Even though this sounds easy, in practice it doesn't work that smoothly. In fact, this step highlights some of the main limitations of this method of converting PDF files to Excel. In the Excel 2016 Bible, John Walkenbach suggests using the Paste Special command and trying some of the different options that appear. In the Paste Special dialog box, you can choose from several options. The following image shows how the Paste Special dialog box looks like when I paste the data from the PDF table that appears above: For this example, I select the option to paste as Text and click on the OK button on the lower-right corner of the dialog box. The following screenshot shows the pasted data in the Excel worksheet: In most cases this isn't precisely the result you want. However, you'll rarely be able to get better results when using this method. As explained by Excel authorities Bill Jelen Mr. Excel and Szilvia Juhasz in XL: The 40 Greatest Excel Tips of All Time: If you open the PDF in Acrobat Reader, copy the data, and paste to Excel, it will unwind into a single column. This is precisely what happens in the example above. And you can generally expect this to happen whenever following this method. As a consequence of the above, you'll usually need to complete the process with the following… Step 3: Cleanup The Data Even though pasted data in Excel generally requires some cleanup, you have a variety of tools you can use to make the cleanup easier, faster and more precise. Since this blog post isn't about data cleanup, I don't go into any specific methods. I may cover some of these topics in future tutorials within Power Spreadsheets. If you want to receive an email when I publish new material in Power Spreadsheets, please make sure to register to our Newsletter by entering your email address below: Overall, this first method of converting a PDF file to Excel leaves some things to be desired. As you may have experienced, there are times where you are not able to copy data from a PDF file. In other words, you may still have to do a substantial amount of work in order to get the data from the PDF file into a form that is ready for analysis. There are some situations in which you may not have any other option for purposes of converting a PDF file to Excel. This is the case if, for example, you don't have access to any of the tools that are required to apply the other methods that I explain below. In any case, as long as you have access to a recent version of Microsoft Word or to Word Online, the following method may help you achieve better results when converting a PDF file to Excel. In broad terms, the logic behind converting a PDF file to Excel is the same regardless of which of the above versions of Word you use. However, let's take a more detailed look at each of these methods to convert a PDF File to Excel using Word. In both cases, I use the same sample table as above, which you can find in page 22 of the Working Paper from the European Central Bank titled Inflation forecasts: Are market-based and survey-based measures informative?. In the case of the screenshot below, I open the file using Word 2016 on Windows 10. Step 2: Select Open from the pane on the left side of the screen and click on Browse. Step 3: Once Word displays the Open dialog box, i navigate to the folder where the PDF file is stored, ii select it, and iii click on the Open button on the lower right corner of the dialog. After you've asked Word to open the file, a dialog box such as the one below is displayed. This is perhaps the main key for the whole process of converting a PDF file to Excel using this method. This depends on different factors, such as the size of the file you're converting and the amount of graphics within the file. As a consequence of this, the converted Word file will likely look different from the source PDF. This is very likely, in particular, if the file you're converting has many graphics. When Word displays this dialog box, click on the OK button. As mentioned above, the conversion may take a while, so you may have to wait a little before proceeding to the next step. Step 2: If Necessary, Enable Editing Of The File Depending on the source of the PDF file, Word may open it in Protected View. When this dialog box appears, simply click the OK button again and wait until Word completes the conversion process. Step 3: Copy The Relevant Sections Of The Editable Word Document Once you've completed step 1 and if necessary step 2 above, Word displays the original PDF file as an editable Word document. When you have the editable Word document, select the section that you want to take into Excel. In the example below, I select the same table as in the previous method: Once you've selected the relevant information in the editable Word document, copy it. Step 4: Paste In Excel By now, you have the information you need in an editable format. In the example above, the resulting table once pasted in Excel looks as follows: In some cases, including this example, the conversion from PDF to Excel isn't perfect. Notice, for example, how Word hasn't been able to convert the values in the first section of the table Mean error to an editable form. In this case, those values are pasted as an image. Therefore, you must use another method including those described in this Excel tutorial to bring them into Excel before being able to work with them. You won't encounter these shortcomings always. In some cases, this method works just fine. If you encounter problems while using Word to convert a PDF file to Excel, you can always try one of the other methods I describe in this blog post. Convert PDF File To Excel Using Microsoft Word Online Even though the process for converting a PDF file to Excel using Word Online is substantially similar to that I followed when using the desktop version of Word, there are a few small differences. Let's take a look at the 5 easy steps you can use to convert a PDF file to Excel using Word Online. Step 3: Make The PDF File Editable Once Word online has opened the PDF file, convert it into an editable document by clicking on the Edit in Word button in the upper part of the screen. Word online displays a dialog box informing you that it will make a copy of the PDF file and convert it into an editable Word document. Confirm by clicking on the Convert button on the lower part of the dialog box. Once Word online has finished the conversion, it displays another dialog box informing you changes in the layout of the PDF file may have occurred. Click on the Edit button on the lower right corner of the dialog box. Step 4: Copy The Section Of The Document You Want To Take To Excel Once Word online has converted the PDF file to an editable document, the screen looks roughly as follows. The actual document will most likely be different in your case. Go to the section of the editable document that you want to bring into Excel, and select it. If you have problems when trying to copy from Word online, you can use the desktop version of Microsoft Word in your computer to continue with the process. To do this, click on the Open In Word button that appears to the right of the Ribbon tabs. If you choose to open the editable file in Microsoft Word, the desktop version of Word is launched. You can then follow the steps I describe in the previous section to copy the relevant data. The following screenshot shows the resulting table in Excel after I've adjusted the column width : Not surprisingly, the results are almost identical as those obtained by opening the PDF file with a recent version of Microsoft Word explained above. Just as when opening the PDF file with Microsoft Word, you'll notice that the results aren't always perfect although in some cases they will be. In the case of the example displayed above, for example, all the Mean errors first section of the table are pasted as an image. In order to be able to manipulate those values in Excel, you'll need to bring them using another method such as the other ones explained in this blog post or type them directly in Excel. You can find a similar explanation of how to use Word Online to convert a PDF file to Excel at. Method 3 To Convert PDF Files To Excel: Use A PDF Converter If you have to constantly convert PDF files to Excel or want to avoid the shortcomings of the other 2 methods described above, it may be a good idea to use a PDF converter. There are several PDF converters in the market. I'm not alone in my recommendation. In XL: The 40 Greatest Excel Tips of All Time, both authors Bill Jelen and Szilvia Juhasz suggest Able2Extract. Additionally, as explained at , the results obtained with online converters aren't always satisfactory. As a consequence of the above, I show you how to convert a PDF file to Excel using Able2Extract. As when explaining the other methods above, I use the table within the European Central Bank Working Paper titled Inflation forecasts: Are market-based and survey-based measures informative? Step 2: Open The File You Want To Convert Once Able2Extract displays the Open dialog box, use it to browse to the folder where the file you want to convert is located. Once you've located the PDF file to be converted, select it and click the Open button on the lower right corner of the Open dialog box. Step 3: Select The Data You Want To Convert Able2Extract opens the PDF file you want to convert. It also explains how you can select the data you want to convert. As explained by Able2Extract, you can select data using any of the following methods: Method 1 To Select Data With Able2Extract Click on the Select All icon on the toolbar. You determine the pages to be converter by typing the relevant range and clicking on the OK button on the lower section of the Select Page Range dialog box. Option 2: Select All Pages. Option 3: Select All on Page. Option 4: Select Area. For example, I can use this option to select the table in page 22 of the European Central Bank Working Paper that I use as an example throughout this blog post. Method 3 To Select Data With Able2Extract The third way of selecting data with Able2Extract is very similar to using the Select Area option in the Edit menu. Simply use the mouse to select the portion of the PDF document that you want to convert. This is the default option, and is also the recommended choice for most PDF to Excel conversions. If you choose this option, Able2Extract determines the positioning of the columns automatically. To choose Automatic conversion, click on the Convert button that appears on the lower left section of the Convert to Excel dialog box. In the special cases where the Automatic conversion doesn't work properly for example, the resulting Excel table isn't properly aligned , you can use the Custom conversion option to specify the column structure. This allows you to designate the column structure before Able2Extract carries out the actual conversion into Excel. To use the Custom conversion option, click on the Define button on the lower middle section of the Convert to Excel dialog. For this particular example, I choose Automatic conversion. I may explain how to use the Custom conversion option in a future blog post. Step 6: Save The Excel Spreadsheet After you click on the Convert button to use Automatic conversion, Able2Extract displays the Save As dialog box. Use this dialog to select the location and filename of the converted Excel file, and click on the Save button on the lower right corner to confirm your choice. Notice how the Save As dialog box is saving the resulting file as an Excel Spreadsheet. The results I obtain when converting the sample table are shown in the screenshot below. Notice how, among others, Able2Extract was able i to replicate the table structure and ii extract all of the significant values from the source PDF document. There's still some cleaning up work to be done. Notice, for example, how negative numbers have been extracted as text I highlight one such value below. These are, however, small issues that are relatively easy to fix. As mentioned by Mr. Excel at : … once I had the data in a table in Excel, it is easy enough to fix those issues. For example, the negative numbers that are stored as text can easily be converted into actual numbers by using the VALUE function and, if necessary, Excel's text functions. If you're interested in using Able2Extract to convert PDF documents to Excel files, you can download it, and get a 7-day free trial,. You may be wondering which of the 3 methods that I explain in this blog post should you use when converting PDF files to Excel. Each of the 3 different methods has different advantages and disadvantages. As a general matter, the results obtained when copying and pasting data from a PDF file to Excel method 1 are in my opinion not particularly good. Therefore, in most situations, you're likely to be better off using Microsoft Word method 2 or a PDF converter method 3. If you constantly convert lengthy or complex documents from PDF to Excel, you may want to consider using a PDF converter such as Able2Extract. If you find yourself constantly carrying out the process of converting a PDF file to Excel, a PDF converter such as Able2Extract may come in handy. An additional factor to consider is that, as shown in the examples above, a good PDF converter like Able2Extract is less prone to introducing errors in your data. According to the , some of the manual conversion methods may introduce errors in your data and you will need to carry a more thorough re-check to confirm the accuracy of the conversion. The following statement from provides a good summary of these criteria for choosing between Microsoft Word or a PDF converter for your file conversion needs: If you have a one-page table, the PDF-to-Word-to-Excel solution will work suitably well. If you have a several-page document with many different tables or repeating headers, then going to a third-party solution such as Able2Extract makes sense. This Convert PDF to Excel Tutorial is accompanied by an Excel workbook containing the results I obtain when using each of the methods to convert PDF files into Excel I cover above. You can get immediate free access to this example workbook by subscribing to the Power Spreadsheets Newsletter. Â This workbook contains 4 different worksheets, each of them shows the results of each of the conversion methods I explain above. You've also seen some criteria that can help you decide which method is the right one for you and learned more about the relationship between PDF and Excel files. This knowledge will help you to convert PDF files to Excel worksheets quickly and easily. You're also likely to start seeing new possibilities and opportunities for analyzing data or carrying other analysis that you didn't do before because, for example, the source data was stored in PDF format. Books And Resources Referenced In This Excel Tutorial Click on any of the links or images below to go to the official website of the software resource. Some of these links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Click on any of the images below to purchase the book at Amazon. I love reading and sharing success stories from amazing members of the Power Spreadsheets community, like you. If this or any other Tutorial has helped you, please share your success story below. This only takes few seconds and, by doing it, you help the future development of Power Spreadsheets. Any improvements I make to this or the other free Tutorials in Power Spreadsheets based on your feedback will benefit you too. I'd like to highlight your amazing work if there's a suitable opportunity. Therefore, I may publish your success story so other members of the Power Spreadsheets community can learn and be inspired by your success. If there's any data about you or your success story you don't want me to publish, please expressly specify this below.
You can get this PDF file. Excel 2003 features a 256 colour palette limit whereas later versions allow for unlimited colours. Yes, we will only convert files that are no more than 50 pages or 5MB in size. The following screenshot is how the dialog box I'm working with looks like. The code examples in this blog post use alternative 2 process name. The windowstyle parameter of the Shell Function is set to vbHide.
