How to Copy Table from PDF to Excel with Formatting on Mac and Windows?

When trying to copy a table from a PDF file, you may only to find nothing is maintained but the texts, all the data huddles together in one cell. Are we able to copy table from PDF to Excel with formatting kept?

How to Copy Table from PDF to Excel with Formatting?

By simply copying and pasting is by no means an ideal way to copy table from PDF to Excel with formatting, we are always recommended to convert PDF to well-formatted Excel format by using a dedicated PDF converter. Here for Mac and Windows users, the recommended tools are different but perform equally excellently on PDF conversions.

Enolsoft PDF Converter OCR

Enolsoft PDF Converter OCR is a fast and robust PDF converter to fully reuse PDF contents by exporting PDF files as different formats that can be easily manipulated or edited. Its simple-to-use interface makes it extremely easy to process PDFs within this program. It also adds OCR feature, enabling users to copy table or others from scanned PDF and image. The advanced OCR feature and excellent support on output format make Enolsoft quite popular among individuals and small business.

Main Features of Enolsoft PDF Converter OCR

• Copy table from native, scanned and protected PDF;
• Convert native PDF to Word, PowerPoint, Keynote, Pages, HTML, ePub, Text, etc.;
• OCR PDF and image, save as searchable PDF, editable Word, etc.;
• Recognize 50+ languages;
• Fast and batch conversion;

Steps to Copy Table from PDF to Excel with Formatting

1. Download and install Enolsoft PDF Converter with OCR;
   For Windows For Mac
2. Add one or more PDF files to Enolsoft;
3. Set up for PDF to Excel conversion;
   Choose page range, file language and set output format as Excel. Also, you can click on the settings icon to enable OCR if the file is a scan.
4. Lastly, click Convert to export PDF as Excel, no copy and paste is needed, the PDF table will be rendered in Excel with formatting.

Bluebeam Revu

There are much more options to copy table from PDF to Excel with formatting on Windows than that on a Mac, Bluebeam Revu is one among them.

Many Windows users feel interested in copying table from PDF to Excel with Revu eXtreme, which is designed to create, convert, edit, markup and collaborate on PDF files. Also, it builds in the OCR feature to turn both scanned PDF and image into searchable PDF, Word, Text, RTF, Excel and PowerPoint. Even, by configuring the OCR settings, the OCR result from Revu can be greatly enhanced.

Main Features of Bluebeam Revu eXtreme 

• Create PDFs;
• Mark up PDF files;
• Edit PDF, change or remove contents;
• Manage drawings;
• OCR, reduce and color process PDFs;
• Protect PDFs;
• Create and fill out PDF forms;
• Convert PDF to image, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc;

Steps to Copy Table from PDF to Excel with Formatting on Windows

1. Download and install Revu eXtreme to your Windows PC;
2. Go to File>Open, import your PDF file to the program;
3. Then go to File>Export>Excel Workbook, choose page region to convert partial PDFs or choose Full document to convert all PDF pages;
4. (Optional) To copy table from a scanned PDF, you need go to Document>OCR, configure the OCR settings and click OK to continue;

How to Copy Table from PDF to Excel for Free?

Also, we have free ways to copy table from PDF to Excel with formatting, though not as good as using a professional PDF to Excel converter, they deserve a try if you want to do the copying without any cost.

#1 Using Microsoft Word

Though directly copying table from PDF to Excel won’t keep the original formatting, we can use Microsoft Word as an intermediate tool to retain the format, since Word allows pasting contents with formatting.

Cons:

• Need to perform copy-&-paste twice, time consuming;
• Cannot copy all tables from PDF one time;

Steps to Copy Table from PDF to Excel for Free

1. Copy table from PDF;
2. Paste the PDF table to a Word document with formatting;
3. Copy the table from Word document;
4. Then paste the table to Excel again, you will find the PDF table is saved in Excel with formatting; 

#2 Using Zamzar to Copy Table from Native PDF (Online)

There are many online free PDF to Excel converters, but most of online free PDF converters save different PDF tables to different sheets in one Excel file. In other word, each PDF table is saved as an individual sheet. If you are OK with this, you can use Smallpdf, iLovePDF to copy PDF table to Excel. If you just want to save all PDF tables in one sheet, you are recommended to use Zamzar.

Zamzar cannot only convert native PDF to Excel, but also to Word, PowerPoint, HTML, Text, image, etc. Even, it helps to convert other files, including video, audio, image, archive, ebook, document, etc. However, it doesn’t support OCR, which cannot help to copy table from scanned PDF to Excel.

Cons:

• Not completely keep original formatting, need revise manually;
• 2 free conversion per day;
• Potential risk of information leakage when uploading and storing files online

Steps to Copy Table from Native PDF to Excel with Zamzar

1. Go to Zamzar;
2. Click Add Files to import PDF;
3. Choose output as Excel XLS or XLSX;
4. Click Convert Now to export PDF as Excel format;
5. Click Download to save the Excel file to your device.

#3 Using Convertio OCR to Copy Table from Scanned PDF (Online)

Get a scanned PDF and want to copy table from the scanned PDF? No worries, we have a solution for you too. Convertio OCR enables users to copy scanned PDF tables with ease.

Convertio OCR is an online free OCR tool to convert both scanned PDF and image into Excel, Word, PDF, Text, PowerPoint, ePub, etc. It supports batch conversion, but only 10 pages can be converted for free.

Cons:

• Not completely keep original formatting, need revise manually;
• 10 pages for free conversion;
• Potential risk of information leakage when uploading and storing files online;

Steps to Copy Table from Native PDF to Excel with Convertio OCR

1. Go to Convertio OCR;
2. Add scanned PDF for uploading online;
3. Choose OCR language, select output as Excel and conversion page range;
4. Click Recognize to OCR PDF for table copying;
5. Download the Excel file to your device.

Conclusion

The most efficient way to copy table from PDF to Excel with formatting, basing on our testing results, is using a professional PDF to Excel converter to directly save the PDF table as Excel format, since it can maintain the original formatting, which cannot be achieved by simple copying and pasting. For Mac users, Cisdem is the first choice, for Windows users, Bluebeam Revu is worth a try.