CodeKitHubWhat Is This Tool?
This tool reads the text content of every page in a PDF and reconstructs it as rows and columns in an Excel workbook, one sheet per page. It groups text into lines by vertical position, then splits each line into cells wherever there's a wide horizontal gap between words — a reasonable proxy for 'this is a new column' rather than just a space.
This heuristic works well for PDFs with simple, evenly-spaced tables or lists — invoices, price lists, exported reports. It does not reliably reconstruct complex layouts with merged cells, multi-line cell content, or tables without clear spacing between columns; for those, expect to manually adjust the result after downloading.
Why Use It?
- Turns PDF tables and lists into an editable, sortable Excel file instead of retyping data by hand.
- No signup, no watermark, completely free.
- Local and private — your PDF is never uploaded to any server.
- One sheet per PDF page, so multi-page documents stay organized.
How to Use
- Click the box or drag a PDF file onto it.
- Wait while the tool extracts text and lays it out into rows and columns.
- Download the .xlsx file and open it in Excel, Google Sheets, or any spreadsheet app.
- Review the column splits — for complex tables you may need to manually adjust a few cells.
Example
Input
invoice.pdf — a one-page invoice with a line-item tableOutput
invoice.xlsx — one sheet with each invoice line as a row, columns for item, quantity and priceAccuracy depends heavily on how the original PDF is laid out — simple tables with clear column gaps convert cleanly, while dense or irregularly-spaced tables may need manual cleanup.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are some of my columns merged together or split incorrectly?
This tool guesses column boundaries from the horizontal spacing between words in the PDF's underlying text layer — it doesn't have access to the PDF's original table structure (most PDFs don't preserve one). If columns are close together or a table uses unusual spacing, the guess can be wrong. Review the result and adjust manually if needed.
Does this work on scanned PDFs?
No. This tool reads the text layer embedded in the PDF; scanned documents are just images and have no extractable text. Run a PDF OCR tool first to add a text layer, then use this converter.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
No. Text extraction and the Excel file generation both happen locally in your browser using JavaScript. Your file never leaves your device.
Will this preserve cell formatting, colors, or merged cells from the original table?
No. The output is plain text laid out in a grid — fonts, colors, borders and merged cells from the original PDF are not carried over.