Extracting tables from PDFs — financial data, price lists, research results — is one of the most requested PDF tasks. Here are the best free methods, from simple copy-paste to OCR-based extraction.
Go to pdfeditor.onl/convert-pdf. Upload the PDF and select Excel (.xlsx) as the output format. The converter detects table structures and maps them to spreadsheet rows and columns. Works well for simple, clearly structured tables.
For flat data tables (no merged cells, no nested headers), select CSV output from the convert tool. CSV opens in Excel, Google Sheets, or any database tool for immediate data processing.
Open the PDF in Chrome or Adobe Reader. Click and drag to select the table text. Copy (Ctrl+C). Paste into Excel (Ctrl+V). Excel may auto-detect column separators. Use Data → Text to Columns to properly separate tab-separated or comma-separated values.
Tip: This method works best when the PDF table uses consistent spacing or tab-separated columns. Dense tables with thin column separators may paste as a jumbled single column — the Convert to Excel method is more reliable in those cases.
Scanned PDF tables are images — you cannot copy text from them directly. Run OCR first using pdfeditor.onl/ocr-pdf, then use one of the methods above on the searchable result. Alternatively, use the Convert to Excel tool which can apply OCR automatically for image-based PDFs.
Merged cells are complex to convert — most tools, including free ones, flatten them into individual cells. Review the Excel output and re-merge cells as needed.
For casual use, pdfeditor.onl's PDF to Excel/CSV conversion handles most standard tables. For complex academic or financial tables, Tabula (free open-source desktop app) provides more precise table boundary detection.