How to Copy Table from PDF to Word and Keep Formatting (3 Solutions)

How to Copy Table from PDF to Word and Keep Formatting (3 Solutions)

2020-12-24 16:00:00 / Posted by to Convert PDF Follow @ admin

In our work, we apply a variety of office applications to complete data sharing. What should we do to convert PDF table to Word for further editing? Have no fear— here we will show you 3 ways to copy table from PDF to Word.

How to Convert PDF table to Word without Losing Formatting

Actually the most ideal solution is not copy & paste but convert PDF table to Word with original formatting, layout, and quality kept. Get the best PDF converter for Mac and Windows below.

#1. Enolsoft PDF Converter with OCR (Mac)

Enolsoft PDF Converter with OCR for Mac is a top-rated PDF converter that offers cool features for carrying out the conversion on PDF documents. So you can easily copy table from PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, and more by converting. As its name suggests, it encompasses the OCR technology, which gives you the opportunity to copy table or anything from scanned PDF and image files.

Highlighted features:

  • Copy table, image, diagram, equations, text, from PDF
  • Copy native, scanned, or encrypted PDF tables
  • Convert and OCR PDF to Word, Excel, Pages, HTML, PPT, Keynote, EPUB, Text, etc. (16 formats in total)
  • Batch OCR hundreds of PDF files
  • Split or extract pages from the existing PDF
  • Support 200 OCR recognition languages, like English, Arabic, Spanish, etc.
  • Preserve quality and formatting
  • Compatible with Mac OS X 10.10 or above

If you’re not sure how to copy a table from PDF to Word and keep formatting using Enolsoft PDF Converter with OCR, just look at the specific steps.

Step 1. Download and install the program.

Free Download

Step 2. Import PDF files

Open PDF Converter with OCR. Drag-n-drop PDF documents that contain the tables you want from Mac to the “Converter” interface.

copy table from pdf to word mac 01

Step 3. Choose Word as the output format

Make sure the OCR button is turned on. Select the file language, page range, as well as the output option – “DOCX” or “DOC” from the format dropdown list.

copy table from pdf to word mac 02

Step 4. Configure advanced OCR setting (optional)

Before conversion, you can adjust the OCR settings to obtain more accurate table content.

Click the “gearwheel” icon, a new window displays, from which you are able to manually drag, remove, and create the blue boxes for tweaking the OCR zone of the table.

copy table from pdf to word mac 03

Step 5. Convert PDF to Word

Click the “Convert” button to convert PDF table to Word on Mac without real “copy and paste” process required.

#2. TalkHelper PDF Converter OCR (Windows)

In terms of PDF conversion, TalkHelper PDF Converter has always been considered one of the pinnacles for Windows. It's packed with a minimalistic interface and light size. You can use it to copy table from PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Image, ePub, etc. Also, it will help you convert Word, PPT, XLS, HTML, TIFF, and DWG to PDF document. The software is available on Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10 (32bit or 64bit).

  1. Download and launch TalkHelper PDF Converter on your Windows computer.
  2. On its primary interface, select the “PDF to Word” option under “Convert PDF to Other Files” from the left panel.
  3. Drag a PDF table into the application, and accept OCR if needed.
  4. Click “Convert” button located at the bottom to change PDF table to Word. convert pdf table to pdf windows

How to Convert PDF Table to Word Online for Free?

There are many online tools to copy table from PDF to Word. They are convenient to use and no need to install plugins or apps but need an Internet connection. In this section, we will recommend PDF2GO.com and Google Docs to you.

#1. PDF2GO.com (Online website)

SimplyPDF.com is a web-based service that's able to quickly getting Word documents from PDF. It lets non-registered users convert and extract three PDFs at the same time. The limitation of file size up to 50MB. You can sign up for higher file size (up to 8 GB). Besides copying a table from PDF to Word, this multifunctional online PDF processor can also compress, edit, split, convert to, etc. PDF.

  1. Open your browser, and head to https://www.pdf2go.com/pdf-to-word.
  2. Click “Choose File” in the purple area and upload PDF files from your computer.online pdf to word converter - pdf2go 01
  3. Choose “Microsoft Word (*.docx)” or “Word 2003 or older (*.doc) as the output format.
  4. Convert PDF with the OCR option.
  5. Click “START” to convert PDF table to Word online.online pdf to word converter - pdf2go 02
  6. Download the Word with table in it.

#2. Google Docs (Google cloud storage service)

If you have a Google account, you can copy table from PDF to Word in Google Docs straightly. The online service makes it simple to view/edit/convert PDF, and insert image/table/drawing/chart/ to PDF. Not only can it extract PDF as Word but also as ODT, RTF, PDF, TXT, HTML, and ePub.

But Google Docs is unable to convert multiple PDF table to Word at once and lacks of accuracy. Furthermore, if your PDF involves a plethora of images, then its storage solution - Google Drive many remove them in the final document.

  1. Sign in to your Google account and head to Google Drive.
  2. Upload a desired PDF document that has the table onto Google Drive by drag-n-drop.
  3. Right-click on the PDF and choose "Open with" > "Google Docs".copy table from pdf to word - google docs 01
  4. Once a new window opens, your file has been converted to Google Docs format. You can edit it.copy table from pdf to word - google docs 02
  5. Hit "File" in the top-bar menu and then choose "Download" > ”Microsoft Word (.docx)".

Note: You’d better convert PDF table to Word using an online tool that supports the OCR feature. Because those tools without OCR like docfly.com will only export PDF tables as non-editable Word. You can't fill anything into the table.

How to Copy Table from PDF to Word Directly?

Although Preview doesn’t ensure you to export PDF to Word format, you are capable of copying a table from PDF in preview and then paste to Word document. The prerequisite is that the PDF file must be a non-scanned or non-image-based. Now see how to do it.

  1. Double-click the PDF table you wish to copy, by default, it would be opened in Preview.copy a pdf table in preview
  2. Copy the table from your PDF.
  3. Initiate Microsoft Word, and paste you the copied PDF table into it.paste a pdf table to word

Apart from Preview, you can copy PDF table from any PDF reader. But in many cases, copying and pasting won’t produce the desired result. Moreover, the scanned PDF can't be directly copied. Thus I don't think it's a good way to follow.

Final Thoughts

Now, the ball is in your court. This article has already shown you the complete solutions to copy table from PDF to Word on Mac and Windows. As mentioned above, direct copy & paste and online converters don’t support batch-processing function and will cause a format loss. The best way should be install a professional PDF Converter + OCR software.