PDF to Excel Converter
Convert PDF files to Excel with a real conversion engine. This one runs on our server — your PDF is uploaded over an encrypted connection, converted, and then deleted.
At a glance
- Where it runs
- Runs on our server — your file is uploaded, converted, then deleted.
- File size
- Up to 100 MB per file without an account or on Free (1 GB on Pro, 2 GB on Team).
- Offline
Needs a connection — this conversion runs on our server.
- Batch
- One file at a time.
- Cost
- Costs 1 credit on a signed-in account. Without an account you get a few free server conversions a day instead.
Extract tables from a PDF into an editable Excel spreadsheet. This runs on the File Converts server engine (table detection is heavy, Python-only work), so your file is uploaded securely, converted, and deleted — one sheet per page.
Best for
- Getting the numbers out of an invoice, statement, or report into a spreadsheet
- Turning a PDF data table into editable, sortable Excel rows
- Reusing tabular data without retyping it
Good to know
Extracts tabular data from a PDF into an editable .xlsx. It works best on clean, ruled tables; irregular layouts, merged cells, or scanned tables may need tidying afterwards. This is one of the advanced conversions that runs on our secure server (not in the browser) — the file is processed and then deleted, which is indicated clearly before you convert.
This one uploads your file, and here is what happens to it
Unlike most tools on this site, PDF to Excel runs on our server, so it needs a connection and it does send the PDF. It travels over an encrypted connection, and the uploaded copy is deleted as soon as the conversion finishes, whether it worked or not. The spreadsheet is kept only so you can download it: 1 hour without an account or on Free, 24 hours on Pro, 7 days on Team. The clock starts when you submit, and a cleanup pass that runs every 15 minutes removes anything past its window.
If a document must not leave your device at all, PDF to Text runs entirely in your browser. It gives you the words without the grid, which you can paste into a sheet yourself.
How the workbook is laid out
Every page of the PDF gets its own sheet, named Page 1, Page 2 and so on. When a page holds several tables, they are stacked on that page's sheet with one blank row between them. When a page has no table the tool can find, its text is written line by line down column A, so nothing on that page is silently lost.
On a page where a table is found, only the table cells are written. Headings above the table, notes beside it, and totals printed below the grid lines are not included. Keep the PDF open next to the sheet for those.
Which tables are detected
Tables are found from the lines drawn on the page: the borders and rules that make a grid. A table with visible cell borders comes through as rows and columns. A borderless table, where the columns line up only through spacing, is usually not recognised as a table. That page then falls back to text lines in column A, and Excel's Data → Text to Columns can split them back into columns.
A cell that spans several columns or rows in the PDF keeps its value in the first cell it covers, and the rest come through empty. Check the headers of complex tables, where spanning cells are most common.
Numbers arrive as text
Every cell is written as the text it showed in the PDF, with spaces trimmed from the ends. Excel may mark numeric-looking cells with a small green triangle, and formulas such as SUM skip them, because they are text rather than numbers. Select the column and use Convert to Number, or Text to Columns with the column set to General, to turn them into real numbers.
Currency symbols, thousands separators and minus signs in brackets come through exactly as printed. Strip those before converting if Excel will not read the value as a number.
Scanned PDFs need OCR first
The server reads the text that is stored in the PDF. It does not perform OCR. A scanned or photographed document is only an image, so it has nothing to read, and its sheets come back empty. Run it through OCR PDF first, which works in your browser, then convert the searchable copy. The table borders in a scan are part of the picture rather than drawn lines, so expect that text as lines in column A rather than a ready-made grid.
Size limits, credits and the daily allowance
Files can be up to 100 MB without an account or on Free, 1 GB on Pro and 2 GB on Team. The limit is checked when you pick the file, before anything is uploaded. Without an account you get a few free server conversions a day. A signed-in conversion costs 1 credit, and the Free plan includes 20 credits a month. A failed conversion gives the credit back. If the connection drops and you retry the same file, it picks up the original job instead of charging you twice.
What to do when the conversion fails
If the button reads "Server offline", the conversion server is not responding. Wait a minute and reload. A message that you have used today's free conversions, or that your credits have run out, means exactly that: sign in, wait until tomorrow, or top up. A file over your limit is refused with the limit in the message.
A password-protected PDF cannot be read on the server. Remove the password with Unlock PDF, which runs in your browser, then convert the unlocked copy. If the download link has expired, the retention window has passed and the result has been deleted. Convert the file again.
What this tool does
- Input
- One PDF with real (not scanned) text
- Output
- An .xlsx workbook, one sheet per page
- Where it runs
- On our server — the file is uploaded, converted, then deleted
- Retention
- Upload deleted when the job ends; result kept 1 h (Free), 24 h (Pro), 7 days (Team)
- Table detection
- Ruled tables become cells; pages without one fall back to text lines in column A
- Cell values
- Written as text — convert numeric columns in Excel
- Scanned PDFs
- No OCR on the server — run OCR PDF first
- File size limit
- 100 MB signed out or Free; 1 GB Pro; 2 GB Team
- Cost
- 1 credit signed in, refunded on failure; a few free daily runs signed out
- Works offline
- No — needs a connection to the server
How to convert PDF → Excel
Drop your PDF file into the converter above — it is uploaded over an encrypted connection, converted, then deleted.
Choose Excel as the output. File Converts picks the smartest settings automatically.
Click Convert and download your Excel file instantly.