pdf to excel

[justinaus]

hi, is it possible to import a formula that is within a pdf document into Excel to then be able to use that formula for calculations? This is to prevent the transcription of complex formulae into the excel document. Thanks.

[#2]

@justinaus 

It is possible to import data from a PDF file into Excel using the built-in feature in Excel.

You can do this by going to the Data tab in Excel, clicking on Get Data, then From File, then From PDF. This will allow you to select the PDF file you want to import data from.

Once you have selected the file, the Navigator window will appear, showing a list of all the data sets that Power Query has found in your PDF. 

You can then select the item or items that you want to import and click on Transform Data.

However, this feature is only available to Office 365 subscribers since August 2020.

It is not clear from your text whether it is possible to paste formulas from a PDF into your Excel. In Excel from Office 365 (the version with subscription) there is a tab with which you can get data from Data/From File/From PDF/From PDF. Announcing data import from PDF documents.

I hope that I could help you with this.

[#3]

@NikolinoDE UGH! I tried this, since I was trying to do this. It did not work as expected. 

It tried to create multiple tables and none of the data was present, it was all ascii chars. 

Using Adobe cloud to convert was accurate and less painfull - no need to select tables or data or whatever MS excel was tring to do. 

Yes, I do have Office 365 subscription. 

I would really like this feature to be painless or seamless - now that every thing has AI - this mundane task can be handled properly without too much of human input. 

Also, if we are working with sensitive data or financial information, using cloud is out of quesiton.

[#4]

@justinaus 

Importing formulas directly from a PDF into Excel doesn't quite work out-of-the-box because Excel treats text from PDFs as plain text. Here's what I do:

1. Copy and Paste: First, I copy the formula from the PDF and paste it into an Excel cell.
2. Modify the Text: Then, I make sure to add an equals sign (=) at the beginning if it's missing and adjust any cell references or function names.
3. Validate: I hit Enter to check if Excel accepts it. If there are errors, Excel will usually give some hints, and I adjust accordingly.

This method requires a bit of tweaking, but it saves time on retyping complex formulas!

[#5]

@NikolinoDE 

It doesn't work with Pro 2019. There is no PDF option in the dropdown menu

[#6]

@Areyoukiddingme 

this feature is only available to Office 365

[#7]

@NikolinoDE 

Yes. Thank you.

[#8]

@justinaus When converting PDF to Excel it's important to consider the accuracy of the conversion, especially in maintaining the formatting and layout of the original document. Tools like Adobe Acrobat DC or online services such as Sma11pdf and PDF2Go can offer reliable conversions, but complex layouts with images, tables, and different fonts might not always translate perfectly. It’s essential to review the converted document carefully to ensure that all elements have been accurately preserved and make any necessary adjustments in Word.

[#9]

@Relios 

I used Adobe Acrobat DC to convert PDF to Excel before, and the results were a bit disappointing. In theory, this tool should be able to handle the conversion perfectly, but in practice there are many problems.

First of all, the formatting of formulas and tables after conversion is often messed up, and sometimes even the formulas are not recognized correctly and are directly converted into ordinary text. I have to spend a lot of time manually adjusting and fixing these errors, which feels more troublesome than directly copying and pasting manually. Especially some complex nested formulas need to be re-entered and debugged almost every time.

In addition, the conversion speed of Adobe Acrobat DC is not very fast, especially when dealing with large files, you often have to wait for a long time. Moreover, the software occasionally crashes, which makes people feel very unstable. In short, using Adobe Acrobat DC to convert PDF to Excel is really not as worry-free as I thought.

[#10]

Don't use online PDF to Excel converter tool. I have tried several online conversion tools to convert PDF to Excel, but the results were not ideal. First, most of these tools have file size limits, and slightly larger PDF files cannot be uploaded at all. Once I uploaded a slightly larger PDF, the website directly prompted that the file was too large to handle.

Even if it was uploaded successfully, the conversion results were disappointing. The format of the table was often messed up, the formula recognition was a mess, and even some important data was lost. I also encountered a time when a bunch of garbled characters appeared in the converted Excel file and it was completely unusable.

In addition, most of these online tools are full of ads and are very unsmooth to operate. Once I almost clicked on some suspicious ad links by mistake, which I felt was very unsafe. Finally, considering the issue of data privacy, I am not very willing to upload important files to these online platforms. In general, although online conversion tools are convenient, the results are really unsatisfactory.