Extract tables
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Extract tables from a PDF to Excel or CSV

Find the tables in a PDF and export them as an Excel workbook or a CSV file, ready to sort, filter and analyse.

  • Runs on our secure server
  • Deleted within 1 hour
  • Processed in London
  • Up to 25 MB per file
or drop files here

Up to 25 MB per file · 1 file at a time on your plan

How it works

  1. Add your PDF

    Click Choose file or drag a PDF onto the page.

  2. Choose Excel or CSV

    Excel (.xlsx) keeps each table on its own sheet. CSV is plain text that almost any program can import.

  3. Extract and download

    Press Extract. Tables are detected on every page and saved in the format you chose.

Pro

Do more with Pro

  • No ads, anywhere
  • Files up to 200 MB
  • 50 files at once
  • Saved workflows
Try Pro free for 14 daysThen £7.99 a month. Cancel any time.

About extracting tables

Copying a table out of a PDF usually turns it into a jumble of text. This tool looks for tables using the ruling lines and the alignment of the text, then writes each table it finds row by row and column by column. Choose Excel to get one sheet per table, which is the easiest format to work with. Choose CSV when you need to load the data into accounting software, a database or a script. It works on PDFs with real text, such as reports and statements exported from software. Scanned pages contain no text to read, so for those use Scan to Word or Excel, which runs OCR first. Tables with clear lines and a single header row extract most reliably; merged cells, tables split across pages and figures inside cells may need some tidying afterwards. Numbers come through as they appear, including currency symbols and thousands separators, so you may need to format the columns before calculating.

Limits: one PDF per task, up to 25 MB with a free account, 200 MB on Pro and 500 MB on Business, with up to 2,000 pages. A free account includes 10 server tasks a day.

Before you sign in, files can be up to 25 MB and you can run 10 server tasks a day. A free account raises this to 25 MB and 10 tasks a day.

Privacy: your file is uploaded over an encrypted connection to our UK servers, processed automatically with no person opening it, and deleted within 2 hours (1 hour on Free), or straight away with Delete now.

How to use the PDF tools: Step-by-step help with every tool, limits and your files.

Extract tables: frequently asked questions

Should I choose Excel or CSV?

Excel if you will work in a spreadsheet, CSV if you are importing into other software. Excel keeps tables on separate sheets.

Why were no tables found?

The PDF may be a scan with no text layer, or the data may be laid out without table structure. Try Scan to Word or Excel for scans.

Does this use an Office conversion?

No. Extract tables does not count towards your Office conversions, unlike PDF to Excel.

Can I extract tables from bank statements?

Yes, if they were downloaded as PDFs from online banking. Check the totals against the original.

Related tools

All Optimise and OCR tools