How to Export PDF to Excel

It is easy to convert any document format into Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). The good thing is that when you convert a document into PDF, it retains its original layout and format. Unfortunately, it doesn't allow you to edit unless you take the contents of the file to another platform like MS Excel (if it's a spreadsheet). You can easily export statistical data or anything that consists of a table on a PDF file to an Excel spreadsheet.

• 1

  Open Adobe Acrobat 5.0 on your computer. Go to "Start" > "All Programs."

• 2

  Click "File" > "Open" and open the PDF file you want to export to Excel.

• 3

  Press "Shift" + "V" once the document opens. You will now see a tool's icon appearing in the main toolbar.

• 4

  Click and drag a box around the table you will export. If you are selecting the whole file, click and drag around it.

• 5

  Right-click inside the selected box. You will now see a menu.

• 6

  Check the "Table" option in this window.

• 7

  Choose "Save As."

• 8

  Specify a file in which you want to save the PDF table. Type a name for the file, then select "ANSI Text (*.txt) in the "Save As Type" window. Click "Save."

• 9

  Minimize Adobe Acrobat 5, and open Microsoft Excel.

• 10

  Go to "File" > "Open."

• 11

  Select the .txt file you had saved in Step 8, and click "Open." Now a Text Import Wizard will appear.

• 12

  Select "Delimited" in the first step of the wizard. When you choose this option, data like semicolons or commas (whichever you specify) will separate the rows and columns. The other option is to choose "Fixed Width," in which a specified amount of space separates the fields. If you choose Fixed Width, you have to manually select the width of the columns.

• 13

  Choose "Start Import at Row: 1" > "File Origin: Windows (ANSI)" > "Next."

• 14

  Adjust the "Column Data Format" if required, and click "Finish."

• 15

  Go to "File" > "Save." In the "Save" dialog box, select "Microsoft Excel Workbook" under "Save As Type." This is to give your file the .xls extension.