How to Extract Data from PDF to Excel?
There are 3 different methods to extract data from PDF to Excel; they are mentioned below:
- Extract Data using Simple Copy and Paste Command
- Extract Data using Microsoft Word
- Extract Data using Adobe Reader Software
Now let us discuss each of the methods in detail –
#1 Extract PDF Data using Simple Copy and Paste Method
The following steps are followed to extract the data using simple commands copy and paste.
- Step 1: Select the PDF file and open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader software, as shown in the figure.
- Step 2: Select and copy the data presented in the table.
- Step 3: Go to Excel and select the drop-down section of the “paste” and click on the “Paste Special.”
It opens the “paste special” dialog box, as shown in the figure.

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- Step 4: Select the paste option as “text” and click on “OK.”
- Step 5: The data extracted into the Excel sheet is shown in the below-mentioned screenshot.
As shown in the figure, data is entered into only one column.
- Step 6: Select the data and click on the “Text to column” option in excel in the “Data” tab.
It opens the “convert text to columns” wizard, as shown in the figure.
- Step 7: Choose the file type as “Delimited” and click on the “Next” button, and it opens the following screenshot.
- Step 8: Choose the Delimiters as “Space” and click on “Next.”
- Step 9: After clicking next, the following wizard will be opened.
- Step 10: Click on “Finish” to close the wizard, and then the text is converted to columns, as shown in the figure.
- Step 11: Clean up the data to ensure that “blue LED value” into one cell, “green LED value” into one cell,” and “red LED value” into one cell.
#2 Extract PDF Data to Excel Using Microsoft Word
The following steps are followed to extract the data using Microsoft word.
- Step 1: Select the PDF file and open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader software.
- Step 2: Select and copy the data presented in the table.
- Step 3: Open Microsoft Word document and paste data into it, as shown in the figure.
- Step 4: Again, copy the table and paste now it into an Excel sheet, and it will be displayed as.
- Step 5: Arrange the table headers properly, as shown in the PDF file, by applying the merging and unmerging on cells.
#3 Extract PDF Data to Excel using Adobe Reader Software
The following steps are followed to extract the data using the Adobe reader
- Step 1: Select the PDF file and open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader software, as shown in the figure.
- Step 2: Go to the “File” menu and select the “convert to Excel, Word, or PowerPoint” option.
After clicking on the convert option, the following page will be displayed.
- Step 3: Select the “convert to” drop-down menu and choose the “Microsoft Excel Document (*.xlsx) format.
- Step 4: Then, click on the “Export to Excel” option.
- Step 5: The exported data into Excel is displayed, as shown in the figure.
- Step 6: Apply cleaning to arrange the data properly into the rows and columns to change the design of the table.
Things to Remember
- Extracting data from PDF to Excel is possible only when we are able to copy the data in a table in PDF file.
- The data directly copy-pasted directly from the PDF to Excel will unwind into an only column or one cell. This requires clean-up activities to arrange the data properly.
- To extract data using the Adobe Reader software, a user account is necessary with the adobe.com.
Recommended Articles
This has been a guide to Extract Data from PDF to Excel. Here we discuss how to extract data from pdf to excel using 3 methods, which include 1) Copy and Paste Option, 2) Microsoft word, and 3) Adobe Reader along with some examples. You may learn more about excel from the following articles –
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