Convert PDF to CSV
Turn tables in a PDF into CSV files ready to import into a spreadsheet, database or accounting tool.
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What it does
PDF to CSV, explained
PDF to CSV reads the tables in a PDF and writes them as comma-separated values, the plain-text format almost every spreadsheet, database and accounting import accepts. You preview the detected rows and columns before downloading.
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CSV is deliberately plain. It holds one table of text values per file: no sheets, fonts, colors, merged cells or formulas. That is what makes it reliable for imports, and also why it loses layout. If you want a formatted workbook with several tables in separate sheets, use PDF to Excel. If you want all the text rather than tables, use PDF to TXT.
Three settings matter for imports. The delimiter (comma, semicolon or tab) must match what the importing program expects; many European spreadsheet setups expect semicolons. Fields that contain the delimiter, quotes or line breaks are wrapped in double quotes. The file is UTF-8; add a byte-order mark if Excel shows accented characters as gibberish.
The standard mode runs in your browser by grouping text into rows and columns by position, so the file is not uploaded and the result is free. For ruled tables, merged cells or crowded columns, switch on Accurate tables, which uses our server-side table extractor and counts as one Office conversion.
How to do it
Convert PDF to CSV in 4 steps
1Your PDF
2Convert
3The new format
- 1
Upload the PDF
Text-based PDFs work in the browser. Scanned PDFs need OCR first.
- 2
Check the detected tables
The preview shows rows and columns for each table found. Turn on Accurate tables if columns look wrong.
- 3
Set delimiter and encoding
Comma, semicolon or tab; UTF-8 with or without a byte-order mark.
- 4
Download
One CSV for a single table, or a ZIP with one CSV per table.
Example
Before and after
A 2-page PDF supplier price list with columns for SKU, description, pack size and unit price; some descriptions contain commas.
One UTF-8 CSV with a header row and one line per product. Descriptions containing commas are wrapped in double quotes so the columns stay aligned on import.
Settings & formats
What you can control
- Delimiter
- Comma (default), semicolon or tab.
- Encoding
- UTF-8, or UTF-8 with byte-order mark so older Excel versions open accented characters correctly.
- Tables
- One CSV per table (ZIP), or all tables stacked in one CSV with a blank line between them.
- Accurate tables
- Runs extraction on our processing servers for ruled tables, merged cells and tight columns. The file is uploaded and it counts as one server conversion (2 without an account, 10 a month on Free).
- Pages
- All pages or a range.
Input
Output
Good to know before you start
- CSV holds plain values only: formatting, merged cells, multiple sheets and anything outside the tables are not kept.
- The browser mode groups text by position, so tables without ruled lines and with uneven spacing can produce shifted columns. Accurate tables handles these better but is not perfect either.
- Scanned PDFs contain no text to extract; run OCR PDF first, then convert.
- Number formats are copied as printed (for example “1.234,50”), not converted to one convention.
If something goes wrong
If something goes wrong
- Everything lands in one column when I open the file
- The program expects a different delimiter. Choose semicolon, or use your spreadsheet's import dialog and pick comma.
- Accented characters look like é
- The program read the file with the wrong encoding. Download again with “UTF-8 with byte-order mark”.
- Rows are split or merged incorrectly
- Turn on Accurate tables, or limit the conversion to the pages that hold the table.
PDF to CSV: questions people ask
What is the difference between PDF to CSV and PDF to Excel?
CSV is one plain table per file for importing into other software. Excel keeps several tables in sheets and stores numbers as numbers. Use CSV for imports, Excel for working in a spreadsheet.
Why do some values have quotes around them?
Values that contain the delimiter, a quote or a line break must be quoted so the columns stay aligned. Spreadsheets remove the quotes when they open the file.
Is my file uploaded?
Not in the standard mode, which runs in your browser. Accurate tables uploads the file to our processing servers.
Can I convert a scanned PDF to CSV?
Run OCR PDF first to add a text layer, then convert. Check figures afterward, since OCR can misread characters.
Which delimiter should I choose?
Comma unless the importing program says otherwise. Use semicolon if your values use commas as decimal separators, and tab for pasting into other tools.