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Save Article Icon A bookmarkPDF files are great for delivering documents in a standard format that's exactly the same no matter what device or software you use to view it — but they are difficult to edit. If you have a spreadsheet in PDF format, often the easiest way to manipulate the data is to convert the PDF to Excel and edit it there.
There's no one-click way to convert a PDF to Excel format within Excel itself, but if you have both Word and Excel, it's fairly easy to do. In addition, there's a simple way to convert PDF to Excel if you own a copy of Adobe Acrobat.
AdvertisementTo convert a PDF using Office, you'll need both Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.
1. Find the PDF on your computer. Open the folder that contains the file, but don't open the PDF.
2. Right-click the PDF and, in the pop-up menu, click Open with.
3. Click Word. If you don't see Word, click Choose another app and then, in the pop-up window, click More apps and scroll until you see Word and then click OK.
4. Word should start automatically, but you'll see a dialog box asking permission to convert the PDF to Word. Click OK. It might take a few minutes for this process to complete, depending upon how large and complex the PDF file is.
5. In Word, click File, then Save As.
6. Use the Save As window to save the file as a Web Page (*.htm, *.html). Note where you save the file, because you'll need to find it again in a moment.
7. Start Excel.
8. Click File, then Open, and choose the webpage version of the document you just saved.
The PDF should now open in Excel, ready to edit. You can save the file in Excel as an Excel file for future use.
Quick tip: You no longer need the webpage version of the PDF that you created in Word, so you can delete that file (and the associated folder of HTML assets).
AdvertisementThere's another way to convert a PDF to Excel format: You can use Adobe Acrobat Pro or Adobe Acrobat Pro DC (assuming you have purchased or own a subscription to these programs).
1. Start Adobe Acrobat and open the PDF you want to convert. To do this, click File, then Open, and navigate to the PDF file on your computer — or you can drag the file into your Acrobat window.
2. In the Tools pane on the right side of the screen, click Export PDF.
3. In the Export PDF window, choose Microsoft Excel Document (*.xlsx) from the Convert To drop-down menu.
4. Click Export to Excel.
5. When the export is complete, click the Exported Files icon at the top of the page and click the file you just created. In the Save As dialog box, choose a location and save the new spreadsheet to your computer.
Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.
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