Convert a PDF table into Excel

How do i consistently convert a PDF table to Excel? When in the PDF i am recognizing the text and then trying all available ways to either copy or export the selection (to all available file types!) but it only works in a usable manner about 10% of the time....the rest of the time it's a jumbled up mess. help!

HI,

you need to have Acrobat Pro to do this, if you just have the reader I expect you cannot do it.

If you have pro, just select the text by holding left mouse, then right click the selection and choose "export selection as..." then choose your excel file type.

I have noticed when I have done this, if you are choosing a lot of data sometimes it is hard to decipher the columns and rows, it works best if you split your page up a bit and save several excel files then pull them together after.

NBF

Well, i have tried this and done it successfully a time or two--but as a i mentioned, most times it doesn't work right. i will try your idea of splitting up the page--maybe that is the key!

thanks!

The trouble is with the conversion is that if the page you are converting has is not exactly lined up, even by 1 pixel i think, then the conversion puts that into a new column. I have done a PDF page with 10 columns and maybe 50 rows, and when opened in excel is has maybe 50 columns and 100 rows, with data spread out everywhere, it is all there (mostly some is jumbled) but takes ages to sort out, splitting the page up definitely helps.

Using acrobat we can easily convert PDF to any format or vice versa. But sometimes align problem can occur. If there are large data, can depend on any organizations that provide document management services. They can better do it in a professional way.