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belindak29064964
New Participant
May 31, 2018
Answered

Convert large PDF invoice into a clean Excel file so that I can import into Access?

  • May 31, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 5511 views

I have a 60 page invoice sent to me a PDF format. I need to convert the PDF into an excel file but only need the data for the items being invoiced as opposed to having all the billing details etc.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Dov Isaacs

That functionality that you describe, selective PDF content export to Excel, is simply not currently available in Acrobat. It would require a facility by which you would “show” Acrobat what parts of the PDF pages to export. This would be a non-trivial function to add and even to use.

My recommendation would be to go to whoever sent you the invoice and ask if their system can export either an Excel spreadsheet or even a .CSV text file of the transactions which could be easily opened and edited directly in Excel. You'd be surprised how many companies actually can provide data in such formats when simply asked.

          - Dov

3 replies

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
May 31, 2018

It might be possible to do it with a script, but that would depend on the structure and consistency of your files, and as mentioned it won't be a simple task, so you'd probably need to pay someone to do it for you.

B
belindak29064964Author
New Participant
May 31, 2018

Thank you Dov,

That was my next plan but I was hoping I could figure this out on my own.

Belinda

Karl Heinz Kremer
Community Expert
Karl Heinz KremerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 1, 2018

There is a non-Adobe solution that might work for you: Tabula: Extract Tables from PDFs

When using this tool, you are describing (as Dov suggested) your data, and then the tool will extract what you've selected. It requires a lot more interaction than Acrobat, but may give you better output than what Acrobat can do.

Dov Isaacs
Dov IsaacsCorrect answer
Legend
May 31, 2018

That functionality that you describe, selective PDF content export to Excel, is simply not currently available in Acrobat. It would require a facility by which you would “show” Acrobat what parts of the PDF pages to export. This would be a non-trivial function to add and even to use.

My recommendation would be to go to whoever sent you the invoice and ask if their system can export either an Excel spreadsheet or even a .CSV text file of the transactions which could be easily opened and edited directly in Excel. You'd be surprised how many companies actually can provide data in such formats when simply asked.

          - Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
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