The key to converting PDF to Excel is to choose the right method. 1. Use professional software such as Adobe Acrobat Pro, WPS Office or online tools Smallpdf, iLovePDF, and can extract tables in one click and export them into Excel, suitable for tables with clear structure; 2. Manual copy and paste combined with Excel's "classification" function, which is suitable for situations where there is less content or no professional software, but attention should be paid to the layout regularity; 3. When facing complex tables, OCR tools ABBYY FineReader, Tabula, or through Word transit adjustments, and programmers can also use Python library to process data. Select the right solution according to the tool and operation difficulty, and the conversion can be completed efficiently.

It is actually not that difficult to convert PDF to Excel. The key is to choose the right method. Many PDF table data look neat, but when you want to organize it into Excel, you get stuck in problems such as confusing formats and invalid copy and pasting. In fact, as long as the tools and operations are properly, the conversion efficiency can be greatly improved.

Use professional software to extract the content of the form in one click

The most convenient way is to use special PDF to Excel tools, such as Adobe Acrobat Pro, WPS Office or online tools Smallpdf, iLovePDF, etc. These tools can automatically identify the table structure and export it directly into Excel files.

• Adobe Acrobat : After opening the PDF, click "Export PDF", select the output format as Excel, and then export with one click.
• Smallpdf : Automatically process the file after uploading, just download the Excel version.
• Note : If it is a scanned PDF, you need to recognize the text before you can extract the form.

This type of method is suitable for people who don’t want to adjust the format manually, especially for situations where the table structure is clear and the number of pages is small.

Manual copy and paste Excel can also be done

If you are just trying to extract a small portion of the content, or if you don't have professional software installed, you can also try manual operations:

1. Open the PDF, select the table content, and copy it to Excel.
2. After initial pasting, there may be problems such as misalignment of columns and mixed spaces.
3. At this time, you can use the "Class" function in Excel (Data > Columns) to split the data according to spaces or tabs.
4. If there are merged cells in the data, you may need to manually adjust the rows and columns.

Although this method is simple, it depends more on whether the PDF content is formatted in a regular manner. If the table is complicated, it is easy to mess up.

What to do if you encounter complex forms?

Some PDF tables have merged cells, cross-column titles, and multi-column structures. At this time, conventional methods are prone to errors. Consider:

• Use OCR tools that support table recognition, such as ABBYY FineReader or online Tabula (suitable for technical users).
• First convert PDF to Word document, use the table editing function in Word for preliminary adjustments before importing it into Excel.
• For programmers, they can also use Python pdfplumber or PyPDF2 library to extract and organize data.

Although this kind of situation is troublesome, as long as the structure is clear and disassembled step by step, the conversion can be successfully completed.

Basically these are the methods. Choose a convenient tool and make appropriate adjustments based on the complexity of the table, which can solve most of the PDF to Excel needs.

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