PDF to CSV

Extract tabular data from a PDF into CSV so it can be opened in a spreadsheet. The tool looks for table structure in the page and writes out the rows and columns it finds. How well this works depends almost entirely on the source: a clean, ruled table from a generated report extracts well, while a table held together only by whitespace is much harder to detect reliably.

How to convert PDF to CSV

  1. Upload the PDF containing the tables.
  2. Run the extraction.
  3. Download the CSV and check the columns line up before relying on the data.

Frequently asked questions

My columns are merged or split in the wrong places.

Column boundaries are inferred from where the text sits, since a PDF usually has no table markup. Tables without ruling lines, or with cells spanning several columns, are the common failure case. Always check the output against the original.

Can I extract a table from a scanned PDF?

Only after running OCR PDF, and expect to do more checking - the extraction then depends on recognition accuracy as well as layout detection.

What happens to the non-table text?

Content that does not look like a table is not carried into the CSV. Use PDF to Text if you need the surrounding prose too.

Other conversion tools

Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection and processed on CoonTool's own server, not in your browser. The working copy is deleted automatically once the job is done, and in any case within 24 hours. Nothing is stored permanently and no account is required.