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A
armandoc7885902
Participant
June 16, 2017
Answered

Inaccurate pdf to xlsx

  • June 16, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 3429 views

Hi everyone,

a couple of months ago I bought an annual plan for Adobe Export PDF. I need it for work, to convert .pdf files to .xlsx. The problem is the conversion is really inaccurate. Usually the app fails to recognize rows and columns properly. Unfortunately I can't show you with pics (or, if there is a way I can't find it)

The result is that the excel conversion is unusable to me, unless I waste a lot of time to normalize the data, aligning them to the right cells.

So the question: is there a way to give some parameters to the conversion? Can I draw some kind of line (for example as default columns) in the .pdf in order to help the app converting the files the way I would like them to be converted? Please let me know.

Thank you.

Kind regards,

Armando.

PS If this needs to be more specific, please ask right away.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Karl Heinz Kremer

    Converting from PDF to Word, Excel or any other format is one of the most complex things you can try to do with a PDF file. It works very well in some cases, in other cases the output has very little to do with the original file. The key for success is that the PDF file needs to be "tagged" - which means that it contains information about the information that is displayed in the file. The best way to make sure that a PDF file is tagged correctly is by using the PDFMaker in Acrobat to create the PDF file from Word or Excel (that's the Acrobat ribbon or toolbar).

    Unfortunately there is not much you can do to improve the output without spending a lot of time (e.g. by manually tagging the file). Also, if you are using Adobe's ExportPDF service and don't have access to Acrobat, that is not even an option.

    The only thing you can do is complain to the original author of the file and tell them that they used a bad PDF generator to create the PDF file.

    Sometimes it helps to save the PDF file as a set of high resolution (e.g. 600dpi) images, then import these images back into Acrobat, run OCR and then export to Word or Excel again.

    For really challenging files, sometimes I get better results using the free Tabula tool: Tabula: Extract Tables from PDFs

    3 replies

    B
    Brian37764248w9pt
    Participant
    May 31, 2024

    Agreed.  The PDH to Excel function in Adobe is brutal.  A much better option for coverting is Cogniview's PDF2XL app  

    A
    armandoc7885902Author
    Participant
    June 16, 2017

    Dear Karl,

    thank you very much, It was helpful.

    Kind regards,

    Armando.

    Karl Heinz Kremer
    Community Expert
    Karl Heinz KremerCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    June 16, 2017

    Converting from PDF to Word, Excel or any other format is one of the most complex things you can try to do with a PDF file. It works very well in some cases, in other cases the output has very little to do with the original file. The key for success is that the PDF file needs to be "tagged" - which means that it contains information about the information that is displayed in the file. The best way to make sure that a PDF file is tagged correctly is by using the PDFMaker in Acrobat to create the PDF file from Word or Excel (that's the Acrobat ribbon or toolbar).

    Unfortunately there is not much you can do to improve the output without spending a lot of time (e.g. by manually tagging the file). Also, if you are using Adobe's ExportPDF service and don't have access to Acrobat, that is not even an option.

    The only thing you can do is complain to the original author of the file and tell them that they used a bad PDF generator to create the PDF file.

    Sometimes it helps to save the PDF file as a set of high resolution (e.g. 600dpi) images, then import these images back into Acrobat, run OCR and then export to Word or Excel again.

    For really challenging files, sometimes I get better results using the free Tabula tool: Tabula: Extract Tables from PDFs

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