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PPDF123

Convert PDF Tables to Excel

PDF to Excel finds aligned table rows in a PDF's text and writes each table to its own sheet of an .xlsx workbook. It needs a text layer, and returns nothing for prose or scanned pages.

Drag and drop files here, or click to choose

Accepts PDF · up to 500.0 MB per file · up to 20 files at once

You can also paste a file with Ctrl/Cmd+V, or from the clipboard menu.

PDF to Excel runs `pdftotext -layout`, looks for lines that contain two or more consecutive spaces, and writes those rows into an `.xlsx` workbook. Each detected table becomes a sheet named `Page N` or `Page N Table M`. Use it on born-digital PDFs where columns already line up in the extracted text.

A table needs at least two consecutive tabular lines. Prose, a single header row, or a scan with no text layer yields `no_content`: no workbook. That empty result is intentional, not a silent failure.

The tool ignores request parameters. There is no page-range field on this page. Columns are split on runs of two or more spaces; a single space inside a cell stays in the cell.

This is not OCR. Image-only scans have nothing for `pdftotext` to read. OCR on this site returns Markdown, which you cannot pipe back into PDF to Excel. If the words exist only as pixels, you will not get a spreadsheet here.

PDF to CSV uses the same layout heuristic. One table becomes one CSV; several tables become a ZIP of CSV files. Excel keeps those tables as sheets in a single workbook. Neither reconstructs merged cells, colored headers, or hidden sheets from the PDF.

Open the download in Excel or LibreOffice Calc and check column splits on a few rows. Tight tables without a two-space gap often land in one column. Password-protected files are unlocked for you on this page once you enter the password; API callers run Unlock first.

Uploads are temporary. We do not keep a workbook library of your documents.

Features

  • `pdftotext -layout` plus a two-space column heuristic
  • One worksheet per detected table; empty detection returns no file
  • Not OCR; Markdown from OCR cannot be sent here
  • Anonymous API at /api/v1/convert/pdf/xlsx

When to use this tool

  • Open extracted tables directly in Excel or LibreOffice Calc
  • Pull a born-digital invoice table into a workbook
  • Keep several page tables as sheets instead of one CSV

How do I convert a PDF table to Excel?

  1. Upload a PDF that already has selectable text in table-like columns.
  2. Click Process. There are no page or OCR options on this tool.
  3. If tables were found, download the `.xlsx`. If not, you get an empty success; try a text-layer source.
  4. Open the workbook and verify splits. Prose-only PDFs will not produce sheets.

Limits and edge cases

  • Needs selectable text and a two-space column gap
  • No OCR and no page-range control
  • Merged cells and styling are not reconstructed
  • Upload limit on this website: 500 MB per file, sent in chunks above about 95 MB. A single direct API request body is capped at 100 MB.

Examples

  • A text PDF with a three-column price list often becomes a sheet of those columns
  • A scanned bank statement with no text layer returns no workbook

Privacy for this tool

Files are uploaded over HTTPS, processed in memory or a short-lived temporary directory on our servers, and deleted when your result is ready. We do not keep copies for later browsing, training, or advertising profiles. See the Privacy Policy for retention details and AdSense cookie disclosures.

Frequently asked questions

Why did I get no spreadsheet?
No block of two or more consecutive tabular lines was found. Scans, prose, and tables without a two-space gap all fail this heuristic.
Can I OCR first, then convert to Excel?
No. OCR returns Markdown. This tool only reads a PDF through pdftotext.
How is this different from PDF to CSV?
Same detection. Excel writes each table to its own sheet in one workbook. CSV writes one file per table (a single CSV, or a ZIP when there are several).
Does it read every page?
Yes. pdftotext splits pages on form feed. Each page is scanned for table blocks. There is no page-range parameter.

Last updated:

Call this from code

Every tool on this site is a plain REST endpoint - no account or API key needed for anonymous use. Built for AI agents and developers as much as for browsers.

curl -X POST "https://pdf123.xyz/api/v1/convert/pdf/xlsx" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -o output.pdf

Also available as an MCP tool for agent clients that speak Model Context Protocol (JSON-RPC 2.0 over POST /mcp). Full API reference

Use it from an AI agent

Skill

Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other AI agents can run PDF to Excel for you with this skill: /skills/pdf123-pdf-to-xlsx.md

All agent skills

Files are used only for this processing job and deleted automatically afterward.