How to convert PDF to Excel without losing formatting?

Since you already have Excel, Power Query is worth another try specifically for importing tables. It’s included in supported Windows versions of Excel, so there’s no separate converter fee.

Go to Data > Get Data > From File > From PDF, select your report, and choose the detected table in the Navigator preview. Click Transform Data before loading it. This lets you remove repeated headings, correct column names, and set numeric columns to Decimal Number or Whole Number. Then select Close & Load to bring the table into your worksheet.

The trade-off is that Power Query focuses on usable data, not reproducing the PDF’s appearance. It can preserve a straightforward table’s rows and columns, but fonts, borders, merged cells, and complicated layouts may not carry over cleanly. Image-only scans need OCR first.

Before doing calculations, check a few totals and confirm that decimal separators and negative numbers imported correctly. If you regularly receive reports with the same layout, you can reuse the query’s cleanup steps.