Excel can pull a table straight out of a PDF using Power Query, the engine behind Data, Get Data, From File, From PDF. It is free if you already have a recent version of Excel, and on a clean, simple table it works well. The trouble starts on real financial documents: Power Query reads a bank statement and splits one column into two, drops a column on page three, or treats every page as its own little table. This guide walks through the exact steps to import a PDF with Power Query, then shows how to fix the column problems that send most people looking for another way.
If you just need the data without the cleanup, the converter at the top of this page reads the table and exports a clean Excel file. But if you want to do it inside Excel, here is how.
How do I convert a PDF to Excel using Power Query?
In Excel, go to the Data tab, click Get Data, then From File, then From PDF, and select your file. Power Query opens a Navigator window listing every table and page it found. Tick the table you want, click Transform Data to clean it, then Close and Load to drop it into a worksheet. The whole flow takes about a minute on a simple file.
A few details matter. In the Navigator you will usually see two kinds of entries: items named Table001, Table002 and items named Page001, Page002. The Table items are Power Query's best guess at a real grid; the Page items are everything on that page as raw rows. Start with the Table view. If it looks wrong, fall back to the Page view and rebuild the columns yourself in the editor.
Why does Power Query split my PDF into the wrong columns?
Power Query splits columns wrong because a PDF has no real grid. The file stores each piece of text at an x and y position on the page, with no information that says "this is column 3." Power Query has to guess the column edges from the gaps between numbers, so on tight layouts, right-aligned figures, or two values that sit close together, it puts the boundary in the wrong place. One column becomes two, or two merge into one.
This is why amounts and descriptions so often end up jumbled on statements. The spacing that looks obvious to your eye is just whitespace to the parser, and dense financial tables have the least reliable spacing of all.
How do I fix inconsistent columns when importing a PDF?
The fix happens in the Power Query Editor before you load the data. The most useful moves: use Split Column by Delimiter or by Number of Characters to break a merged column apart, use Merge Columns to rejoin a value that got split, and use Use First Row as Headers once the grid is right. Then set each column's data type so amounts read as numbers and dates as dates rather than text.
For a column that is right most of the time but breaks on a few rows, it is often faster to load what you have and patch the stragglers by hand in the sheet. Power Query is powerful, but a complex statement can take more cleanup time than retyping a short table would.
Why are my PDF pages showing up as separate tables?
A long list that runs across many pages is a known weak spot. Power Query frequently treats each page as its own table, so a 14-page statement shows up as 14 separate items in the Navigator, and only the first one carries the header row. You get the data, but in pieces.
To stitch them back together, load the pages as separate queries (or pick the Page items), then use Home, Append Queries to stack them into one table. Promote the header on the combined result and delete the repeated header rows that came from the other pages. It works, but on a document with shifting column counts page to page you will spend real time aligning them.
Can Power Query convert a scanned PDF to Excel?
No. Power Query has no OCR, so it can only read PDFs that contain a real text layer. A scanned statement or a photographed receipt is just an image inside a PDF wrapper, and the From PDF connector either returns nothing or imports the page as a picture you cannot use. There is no setting that turns this on.
For scanned or image-only files you need a tool with optical character recognition. An OCR PDF to Excel converter reads the text off the image first, then builds the table, which is the step Power Query is missing.
Do I need Microsoft 365 to use the PDF connector?
Yes, in practice. The From PDF connector ships with Microsoft 365 and recent perpetual builds of Excel on Windows. It is absent from Excel 2016 and older, and it is not in Excel for Mac. If you do not see From PDF under Get Data, From File, your version does not include it, and no update to an unsupported version will add it.
If you are stuck on an older or Mac build, you do not have to upgrade Office just for this. A browser converter does the same import on any version, which I cover in the guide on how to import a PDF into Excel without Microsoft 365.
When should you skip Power Query and use a converter instead?
Use Power Query when the PDF holds a clean, single table and you want the data to refresh when the file updates. Skip it when the document is a dense multi-column statement, runs across many pages, or is scanned. Those are the three cases where the column guessing and the missing OCR cost you more time than they save.
A dedicated converter reads the table structure directly, keeps numbers numeric, handles scans with OCR, and processes the whole file at once. If your document is a bank or credit card statement, those are the layouts Power Query mangles most; a focused bank statement to Excel converter is built for exactly that grid. For invoices, where line items need to land as rows, an invoice to Excel tool reads the table without the manual splitting. And when accuracy on the numbers is the whole point, an accurate PDF to Excel converter keeps figures as numbers you can total. You can also start from the import PDF to Excel page or pull just the grids with a PDF table extractor.
The short version: Power Query is a fine free option for tidy tables on Windows with 365. The moment the layout gets dense, long, or scanned, reach for a converter built to read the table instead of guess at it. Upload your file above to see the difference.