Participant

Question

Converting PDF files to Excel

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
July 29, 2025
3 replies
750 views

I have just subscribed to Acrobat Export PDF and it does seem to convert files including tables to Excel. However the formatting is driving me crazy, how can I then manipulate the information in Excel?

R

robert_8752Author

Participant

Hi Souvik

Many thanks for your message, I was away yesterday so have only just been able to get back to this.

I uninstalled and re-installed Acrobat Reader, and restarted my PC in between. I still have the same problem of not being able to manipulate the file in Excel. I'm no expert, but have been using Excel for 35 years!

Attached are the source PDF file and the exported Excel file, and would much appreciate any guidance you can give.

Many thanks
Robert

[Private info removed]

try67

Community Expert

Your attachment did not come through, and don't reply by email as it posts your full details to the forum. Use the Attach File command from the forum in your browser, or share it via a website like Dropbox.

creative explorer

Community Expert

@robert_8752 if you want to 'manipulate the information in Excel' — then 'manipulate the information in Excel' first, then save it as a PDF.... it would be much easier to do than th oher way around!

m

try67

Community Expert

I'm assuming they have the data in a PDF, and want to convert it to Excel, to be able to manipulate it there...

S_S

Community Manager

Hi @robert_8752,

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for your experience with using the Export feature on Acrobat.

Would you mind letting us know the platform through which you are exporting the file?

Is it the Acrobat desktop app or the Acrobat Online tools?

We recently made significant changes to the export engine.

If you are using the online portal, would you mind trying out the Acrobat Reader application and checking if the results are better?

You can download the free Acrobat Reader DC application installer from here: https://adobe.ly/4lTtnSs

Once downloaded, install the application and log in with the same credentials, and try the workflow again.

If the results are the same, please share the source PDF file and the exported Excel file, so we can investigate further.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Souvik.

R

robert_8752Author

Participant

Hi Souvik

Many thanks for your message, I was away yesterday so have only just been able to get back to this.

I uninstalled and re-installed Acrobat Reader, and restarted my PC in between. I still have the same problem of not being able to manipulate the file in Excel. I’m no expert, but have been using Excel for 35 years!

Attached are the source PDF file and the exported Excel file, and would much appreciate any guidance you can give.

Many thanks

Robert

AllanFuller_20250121_113148.xlsx

AllanFuller_20250121_113148.pdf

S_S

Community Manager

Hi @robert_8752,

Thanks for the response.

The PDF file you shared is a collection of scanned images, combined to create one PDF.

I tried different ways to export the file, and was successful in exporting them with the same layout if I removed the feature "Recognize Text" in the settings before hitting Export.

I ran OCR on Acrobat, made changes to the file, and exported to Excel, but unchecked "Recognize Text." > The results were still the same, but the only catch was that they were not directly editable in Excel.

Another fix I was able to get was to export the file to individual images > open Excel > use the tool "Insert data from Picture," > select the image file > and done.

More info on this is available here: https://adobe.ly/3IWi65b

Let me know if any of these help.

Regards,
Souvik.

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