PDF to XLS
Convert PDF tables into legacy Excel (.xls) format.
Drag & drop your PDF here
or click to select file
User Guide
Confirm there is selectable text
Highlight a few cells in your PDF reader. If they select, the table is text and can be converted. If the cursor draws a box over a picture instead, the page is a scan and needs OCR before any of this will work.
Upload the PDF
One document, 10 MB maximum. The conversion runs on a server; the file goes up, the workbook comes back, and the upload is cleared.
Convert to XLS
Press the button and wait for the download. Longer documents with many ruled tables take proportionally longer, since each one has to be detected and mapped to cells.
Verify the numbers, not just the layout
Open the workbook and check totals against the PDF. Column alignment is easy to eyeball; a decimal that landed in the wrong column is not, and it is the error that costs money. Sum a column and compare it with the printed total.
About the PDF to XLS Converter
This produces .xls, the older Excel workbook format, and the reason to want it is almost always that something on the other end refuses anything newer.
Two formats with the same name
.xls is Excel’s legacy binary format, built on the same Compound File Binary Format container Microsoft used across old Office applications. .xlsx, introduced in 2007, is a completely different thing: a ZIP archive of XML parts under ECMA-376. They share three letters and almost nothing else, which is why an accounting package or a government upload form written against the old format rejects the new one without explaining itself.
How cells are reconstructed
A PDF contains no rows, columns or cells — only glyphs at coordinates. The converter infers the grid from visual evidence: ruled lines where they exist, otherwise runs of text sharing a vertical position and columns of consistent horizontal alignment. Strong visual structure converts cleanly; tables held together only by whitespace are much harder, because the grouping your eye performs instantly has to be rebuilt from geometry alone.
What will not come back
Formulas cannot be recovered. A PDF records the printed result of a calculation, never the calculation, so you receive values. If you need the arithmetic live, rebuild the formulas over the imported figures — and check a few against the original before trusting the rest.
Verify the numbers, not the layout
Column alignment is easy to eyeball. A decimal that landed in the wrong column is not, and it is the error that costs money. Sum a column and compare it against the printed total; that single check catches most conversion faults in seconds. In multi-page tables the repeated headers usually arrive as data rows and need removing.
Which output to choose
Use XLSX unless something forces your hand. Use this when .xls is specifically demanded. Use CSV when the destination is a script or database import, since plain text parses anywhere and will still open in fifty years. 10 MB per file, processed on a server, and a scan needs OCR first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use XLS or XLSX?
XLSX unless something specifically demands otherwise. It handles more rows, keeps more formatting, and is what current Excel produces by default. Choose XLS when an older system rejects the newer format, which is the main reason this tool exists.
Excel warns me about the file format when I open it.
That warning appears because the file was generated rather than saved by Excel itself. It is expected and the workbook opens normally. Saving a copy from Excel afterwards clears it for anyone you pass the file to.
Are formulas recreated?
No, and they cannot be. A PDF holds the printed result of a calculation, not the calculation. You get the values; if you need the arithmetic to be live, rebuild the formulas over the imported figures.
My table spans thirty pages. Will it come through as one sheet?
It should come through continuously, but expect the repeated header row from each page to appear inline as data. Sorting or filtering on a distinctive column makes them quick to find and remove in one pass.
Does cell formatting like colour and bold survive?
Some visual attributes carry over where the converter can map them, but treat styling as a bonus rather than a guarantee. The data is what this tool is for; formatting is faster to reapply than to repair.
Can I convert a photograph of a table?
Not without OCR. A photograph contains no characters, so there is nothing for the converter to place in cells. Run OCR first, then convert, and check the digits carefully — misread numbers are the usual cost of that route.