Whenever working with Excel, you may face a situation where you will need to attach PDF files in Excel. The main focus of this article is to explain how to attach PDF file in Excel. 3 easy and simple ways of doing it will be explained.
How to Attach PDF File in Excel: 3 Easy Ways
For this article, I have taken a PDF file that contains the following table. The table has 3 columns, Employee ID, Employee Name, and Designation. I named the PDF file Employee Record. Here, I will attach this PDF file in Excel. I will explain 3 different ways of doing it.
1. Use Object Feature to Attach PDF File in Excel
In this first method, I will use the Object feature to attach a PDF file in Excel. Let’s see how it is done.
Steps:
- Firstly, select the cell where you want the PDF file.
- Secondly, go to the Insert tab.
- Thirdly, select Text.
- After that, a drop-down menu will appear.
- Select Object from the drop-down menu.
- Next, the Object dialog box will appear.
- Select the Create from File tab.
- Afterward, select Browse.
- Then, another dialog box named Browse will appear.
- Select the PDF file you want to attach.
- After that, select Insert.
- Next, check the Link to the file and Display as icon option.
- Finally, press OK.
- Now, you will see that you have attached the PDF file in Excel.
- After that, right-click on the PDF file.
- Then, select Format Object.
- Next, the Format Object dialog box will appear.
- Go to the Properties tab.
- Then, select Move and size with cells.
- Afterward, select OK.
- Now, the PDF file will be fixed in this cell. If you resize the cell the file will be resized automatically.
- You can open the PDF file by simply double-clicking on the PDF file.
Read More:Â [Fixed!] Cannot Insert Object in Excel
2. Employ Hyperlink Feature in Excel
The Hyperlinks feature helps to insert links in Excel. Here, I will use the Hyperlinks feature to attach PDF files in Excel. I will insert an image first and then link the PDF file to it. Let’s see the steps.
Steps:
- In the beginning, select the cell where you want the PDF file.
- Next, go to the Insert tab.
- After that, select Illustrations.
- Then, select Pictures.
- Consequently, a drop-down menu will appear.
- Select This Device from the drop-down menu.
- Now, another dialog box named Insert Picture will appear.
- Select the picture you want to insert.
- After that, select Insert.
- Then, you will see that the picture is inserted in Excel.
- Next, resize the image as per your need by clicking and dragging a corner of the image.
- Here, in the following picture, you can see how my picture looks after resizing.
- Further, right-click on the picture.
- Then, select Link.
- Afterward, the Insert Hyperlink dialog box will appear.
- Select Existing File or Web Page.
- Then, select the PDF file you want to attach.
- Next, select OK.
- Consequently, the link to the file will be inserted into the image. You can see the link if you hover your mouse cursor over the picture.
- In the end, click on the picture if you want to open the PDF file.
- In the following picture, you can see that I have opened the PDF file by clicking on the picture.
Read More:Â How to Insert PDF as Image in Excel
3. Use of VBA to Attach PDF File
In this method, I will show you how you can attach a PDF file in Excel by using VBA. I will write a simple VBA code and you can attach a PDF file in Excel by running it. Let’s see how you can do it.
Steps:
- First, go to the Developer tab.
- Then, select Visual Basic.
- Next, the Visual Basic Editor window will open.
- Select Insert tab.
- Then, select Module.
- Consequently, a module will open.
- After that, write the following code in that module.
Sub Attach_PDF_file()
Dim PDF_file As String
PDF_file = Dir("E:\office\Article 68\")
Do While Len(PDF_file) > 0
If Right(PDF_file, 3) = "pdf" Then
ActiveSheet.OLEObjects.Add(Filename:= _
"E:\office\Article 68\" & PDF_file _
, Link:=False, DisplayAsIcon:=False).Select
End If
PDF_file = Dir
Loop
End Sub
🔎 How Does the Code Work?
- Here, I created a Sub Procedure named Attach_PDF_file.
- Then, I declared a variable named PDF_file as String.
- After that, I used a Do While Loop to repeat while the condition was true.
- Next, I used an If Statement to run the code for a specific condition.
- Afterward, I ended the If Statement.
- Finally, I ended the Sub Procedure.
- Next, Save the code and go back to your worksheet.
- Then, go to the Developer tab.
- After that, select Macros.
- Now, the Macro dialog box will appear.
- Select Attach_PDF_file as the Macro name.
- After that, select Run.
- Next, you will see that you have inserted the PDF file and you can see the first page on the display.
- After that, resize the PDF file as you want.
- In the following image, you can see how my PDF file looks after resizing.
- Then, double-click on the file to open the PDF.
- Here, you can see that I have opened my PDF file.
Read More: How to Attach Documents in Excel
How to Copy Data from PDF File to Excel
In this section, I will show you how you can copy data from PDF files to Excel. Here, I will use the Power Query Editor for this purpose. Let’s see the steps.
Steps:
- Firstly, go to the Data tab.
- Secondly, select Get Data.
- Thirdly, select From File.
- After that, select From PDF.
- Next, the Import Data dialog box will appear.
- Select the PDF file.
- Then, select Import.
- Here, the Navigator dialog box will appear.
- Select from where you want data. Here, I selected Page001.
- Then, select Transform Data.
- Consequently, the Power Query Editor will open.
- After that, click on the marked button on the following picture.
- Then, select Use First Row as Headers.
- Here, in the following image, you can see that I have got my desired table.
- Next, click on the drop-down option for Close & Load.
- Then select Close & Load To.
- Now, another dialog box named Import Data will appear.
- Select Existing Worksheet.
- Then, select the location where you want the data.
- After that, select OK.
- Consequently, you will see that you have copied the data from the PDF file to Excel.
- Finally, I formatted the table to get my desired output.
Read More:Â How Do I Insert a Multiple Page PDF into Excel
Things to Remember
Whenever working with VBA, you must save your Excel file as an Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook. Otherwise, the VBA will not work.
Practice Section
Here, I have provided a practice sheet for you to practice how to attach PDF files in Excel.
Download Practice Workbook
You can download the practice workbook from here.
Conclusion
To conclude, I tried to explain how to attach a PDF file in Excel in this article. Here, I explained 3 different methods. I also covered how you can copy data from PDF files to Excel. If you face any problems, then feel free to let me know in the comment section below.
