PDFs are almost non-editable documents used for multiple purposes. It’s common among users to copy and paste from PDF to Excel. However, there are numerous free online Tools, Software, and Converters to convert PDFs into Excel files, but we’ll not discuss them. In this article, we demonstrate ways to copy and paste from PDF to Excel without software. I hope you find this article very informative.
To copy and paste from PDF to Excel, we have found three different examples to show you the procedures. Here, we would like to show some examples where we import data from PDF to Excel or directly copy from PDF to Excel. All of these processes are user-friendly. You can easily understand the whole scenario quickly. To have a better understanding, just go through all the examples.
1. Importing Data from PDF to Excel
Excel itself offers the Get Data feature to fetch data from external sources. The Get Data feature resides in the Data tab. By using this command, we can easily import data from pdf to Excel. To understand the process, follow the steps.
Steps
- First, you need to open an Excel file.
- Then, go to the Data tab on the ribbon.
- After that, select Get Data drop-down option from the Get & Transform Data group.
- Then, select From File option.
- After that, Select From PDF.
- Then, select the PDF file from your PC.
- After that, click on Import.
- As a result, the Navigator dialog box will appear.
- From there, select Page 1 of the PDF.
- After that, click on Load.
- As a consequence, we get the following result in our Excel file. See the screenshot.
Read More: How to Copy from PDF to Excel and Keep Columns
2. Directly Copying from PDF to Excel
Our next example is based on using the direct copy method from PDF to Excel. In this example, we will copy the content from a PDF file and paste it into Excel. To understand the example, follow the steps.
Steps
- Open any PDF file you want to convert into Excel. Use Ctrl+A or the Mouse Cursor to select all the content.
- Now, Open a blank Excel Worksheet.
- Right-click on any cell. The Context Menu appears
- Select Paste Special from the options.
- The Paste Special window appears.
- Select Paste as Text.
- Then Click on OK.
- In a moment, Excel Pastes the copied content without maintaining any format whatsoever. You can see from the below image that Excel pastes all the content just in one column.
- Alternatively, you can use Ctrl+V to supersede some steps. Obviously, you have to furnish the copied data according to your requirements. And of course, this method is not suitable for converting large or crowded PDFs into Excel files. This method comes in handy for a handful of entries not so proper mining data.
Read More: How to Copy from PDF to Excel Table
3. Using Microsoft Word to Extract Data from PDF to Excel
The hardest part of handling a PDF file is editing or reformatting it. To gain a better outcome from PDF files we have to make them editable before Copying and Pasting them into Excel Worksheets. In that case, Microsoft Word can be used as a mediatory tool. Our third example is based on using Microsoft Word. Here, we would like to open the PDF file in Microsoft Word and then copy and paste it into Excel. To have a better understanding, follow the steps clearly.
Steps
- First, launch the Microsoft Word.
- Then, go to the File tab on the ribbon.
- Select Open.
- Then, click on Browse to select your PDF file.
- Select the respective PDF file from your device directory.
- Click on Open.
- Excel fetches a warning saying Microsoft Word is going to convert the PDF into an editable Word document and outcomes may not be the same. Click on OK.
- Microsoft Word takes a while and then opens the content in an editable Word document.
- Use the keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+A) or Mouse Cursor to select the entire content.
- Then perform Ctrl+C or Context Menu’s Copy.
- After that, Open a blank Excel Worksheet then execute Ctrl+V or Paste.
- So, it’s far more effective to use Microsoft Word to make editable versions of PDFs before converting or pasting them into Excel Worksheets.
Things to Remember
- Only when we can copy the data into a table in a PDF file is it possible to extract the data from PDF to Excel?
- One column or cell may include all of the data that was immediately copied and pasted from the PDF into Excel. However, the data must first be cleaned up before being properly organized.
Download Practice Workbook
Download the practice workbook below.
Conclusion
Handling PDF files to extract data is very common among users. In this article, we describe some of the easiest ways to copy and paste from PDF to Excel without software. Copy-Paste, Microsoft Word as a Mediatory Tool, and Excel’s Get Data feature convert PDF contents into Excel entries. However, the Get Data feature and Microsoft Word as a mediatory tool come in handy when we take outcomes into consideration. Hope these above-described methods excel in your case. Comment, if you have further inquiries or have anything to add.
This really helped me alot, thank you 🙂
Dear Kirsten Wheeler,
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Shamima Sultana
Project Manager | ExcelDemy