Convert PDF to Excel — tables from the text layer
Rows from lines, columns from the gaps between them, one sheet per page.
Free: 3 jobs per UTC day, 25 MB per file. PDF exports include a visible Made with Bindery watermark. Pro exports clean PDFs.
Prefer the full studio? Open PDF to Excel in the app →
Bindery reads the position of every piece of text on each page, groups it into rows, finds the column gutters, and writes a standard .xlsx with one sheet per page. Plain numbers — including ones with thousands separators — become real numeric cells you can sum and sort.
Ruled tables and aligned columns carry over well; free-form prose lands in a single column, and scanned pages have no text layer to read (run OCR first). Bindery runs entirely in your browser — your file is never uploaded, so there is nothing to delete from a server afterwards.
How it works
- Drop the PDF and open PDF → Excel
- Bindery detects rows and columns locally
- Download the .xlsx
How a PDF becomes cells
A PDF has no notion of a table — only text at positions. Bindery reads the position of every piece of text on each page, groups pieces that share a baseline into rows, finds the vertical gaps that run down the page to locate columns, and writes a standard .xlsx with one sheet per page. Plain numbers, including ones with thousands separators and decimals, become numeric cells you can sum, sort and chart. Currency and percentage strings stay as text so nothing is silently altered.
Ruled tables and aligned columns — bank statements, invoices, price lists, exported reports — carry over well. Free-form prose lands in a single column. Scanned pages have no text layer to read; run OCR first.
Getting clean spreadsheets
- Extract only the table pages first so the workbook is not padded with cover-page sheets.
- Check totals against the PDF: a merged cell or a wrapped header can shift a column.
- Bank and card statements have their own page: PDF to Excel for bank statements.
- For the words rather than the numbers, PDF to Word or PDF to text.
Converting in the browser versus uploading
| PDF to Excel | Bindery | Upload-based tools |
|---|---|---|
| Where the file is processed | In your browser tab, on your device | Uploaded to the service’s servers |
| Numbers | Real numeric cells; currency and percentages kept as text | Varies |
| Statements and invoices | Never leave the device | Uploaded, retained for a period |
| Scans | On-device OCR first | Cloud OCR |
| What exists afterwards | The original and the new file, both on your device | A server copy until the retention window ends |
| Works offline | Yes, once the app has loaded | No |
Questions people ask
Does it work on scanned PDFs?
Not directly — a scan has no text layer. Run OCR in Bindery first (six languages, on-device), then convert the searchable result.
Will numbers be numbers?
Yes. Cells that are plain numbers, with or without thousands separators and decimals, are written as numeric cells; currency and percentage strings stay text so nothing is silently altered.
Which apps open the result?
Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers and LibreOffice Calc all open the standard .xlsx package.
Why did two columns merge into one?
The gap between them was narrower than the gaps inside the cells on some rows, so the column detector saw one column. Extract just the table page and try again, or split the merged column in your spreadsheet app with a text-to-columns tool.
Are formulas recreated?
No. A PDF contains results, not formulas. Numbers arrive as values; add formulas in the spreadsheet.
Which apps open the result?
Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers and LibreOffice Calc all open the standard .xlsx.