How do I extract the tables from a PDF into Excel?
Upload the PDF to Sealique: the tables on each page become an XLSX workbook, one sheet per table, numbers and colours kept, downloaded from your browser.
Price lists, statements, attendance registers and reports arrive as PDFs and need to be totalled, filtered or imported. The tool detects the tables on each page and gives you a workbook you can open in Excel, LibreOffice or Google Sheets.
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Key facts
- PDF to Excel on Sealique finds the tables in a PDF of up to 50 MB and writes them to an XLSX workbook; it is included with an account, with no card and no daily limit.
- Every table becomes its own sheet named after its page and position (P1 T1); numbers, percentages and dates become real values, and cell colours, bold text and borders are kept.
- Text outside the tables is written to a Text sheet with its page numbers, so nothing is lost; PDFs of up to 500 pages are accepted.
- A scanned PDF has no text: run OCR PDF first, then extract the tables.
- Tables drawn with ruling lines convert best; columns made of aligned text without lines are detected too and may need a little tidying.
How are tables found in a PDF?
A PDF has no notion of a table, only text placed at coordinates and lines drawn between them. On Sealique servers each page is analysed for ruling lines first, then for columns of aligned text; every grid found becomes a sheet in the workbook, named after the page and the table number. Each cell is typed (numbers, dates, percentages), coloured like the printed cell, bold where the PDF was bold and bordered where lines were drawn. The text outside the tables goes to a Text sheet.
What to do before extracting?
Split a long PDF to the pages that hold the tables, run OCR if the file is a scan, and unlock it if it is password-protected. The workbook is produced in seconds and kept with the job for download.
PDF to Excel, step by step
Open PDF to Excel
Sign in, open PDF tools and choose PDF to Excel.
Choose the PDF
Drop a PDF of up to 50 MB or pick one from your library. Scans need OCR PDF first.
Convert
Press Convert. The tables are detected on the server and written to a workbook.
Download the workbook
Download the XLSX from the job page; each table is on its own sheet with the header row frozen.
PDF to Excel is included with a Sealique account; the processing happens in your browser and on our servers, nothing is shared with third parties.
What PDF to Excel includes
- Tables detected page by page
- Numbers, dates and percentages typed
- Cell colours, bold text and borders kept
- Text outside tables on its own sheet
- Works with OCR for scans
- Works from a phone or a computer
Questions people ask
Which tables are detected?
Tables with ruling lines first, then columns of aligned text, page by page; each becomes a sheet with one cell per table cell.
Ruled tables get thin borders on every cell; text-only columns get a line under the header. Check the sheets and adjust in the spreadsheet.
What if the PDF has no tables?
The tool writes every text line to a Text sheet with its page number, so the content is still usable in a spreadsheet.
Does it work with scanned statements?
Not directly. Run OCR PDF first (English, French, German or Swahili) and extract the tables from the searchable result.
Are numbers converted to numeric cells?
Yes. Integers, decimals, percentages and currency amounts become numeric cells, with the symbol and thousands separators kept as the cell format; ISO and day-first dates become real dates.
Does it cost anything?
No. It is included with a Sealique account: no card, no watermark, no daily limit.