Convert PDF to Excel on Mac: 6 Methods That Work

Quick Answer: Excel for Mac has no Get Data from PDF option, so on a Mac you either copy the table out of Preview and paste it into Excel, use Excel's Data from Picture on a screenshot, or run the PDF through a converter such as Adobe Acrobat (desktop or the free online tool). For a CSV, convert to Excel first and then use File > Save As with the CSV UTF-8 format.

Turning a PDF into a spreadsheet on macOS takes a workaround, because the PDF connector that Windows users get in Excel's Power Query is missing from Excel for Mac. The free built-in options (Preview, Data from Picture, Numbers) work for small tables. For multi-page documents, a dedicated converter such as Acrobat or a web tool saves a lot of retyping and fixing.

Why can't Excel for Mac open a PDF?

On Windows, Microsoft 365 users can choose Data > Get Data > From File > From PDF and pick tables from a navigator. That connector does not exist on the Mac. Microsoft's page on Power Query in Excel for Mac lists the local sources it supports: Excel workbooks, Text/CSV, XML, JSON, and blank tables or queries. PDF is not on the list. Trying File > Open on a PDF in Excel for Mac fails for the same reason; Excel has no reader for the format.

If you have access to a Windows PC or a Windows virtual machine, the Windows import is worth knowing about, and it is explained in how to import a PDF into Excel. Everything below works on the Mac itself.

Which Mac method fits your PDF?

Method 1: copy a table from Preview

Apple's Preview can copy text out of any PDF that has a text layer. Apple's guide to selecting and copying text in Preview gives the two moves you need:

1. Choose Tools > Text Selection, drag across the table, then choose Edit > Copy.
2. To copy one column only, hold the Option key while you drag. This draws a rectangle instead of following the lines of text, which is the trick for pulling a single column of amounts.

Paste into Excel with Edit > Paste Special > Text (or Command-Option-V and choose text). Very often each row arrives as one long cell. Split it with Data > Text to Columns, choosing Delimited and space, or Fixed width if the columns were evenly aligned. Detailed paste repairs are in copy a PDF table to Excel.

The Option-drag column copy is the most useful Preview feature for spreadsheets. Copy dates as one column, descriptions as another and amounts as a third, paste each into its own Excel column, and you sidestep the splitting problem entirely. It only works when every row has a value in every column, otherwise the columns fall out of step.

Method 2: Data from Picture in Excel for Mac

Excel for Mac can read a table from an image and turn it into cells. Microsoft's Insert data from picture page describes it:

1. Take a screenshot of the table with Shift-Control-Command-4, which copies the selection to the clipboard.
2. In Excel, choose Data > Data From Picture > Picture From Clipboard. If you saved the screenshot as a file, choose Picture From File instead.
3. Excel analyses the image and shows a preview. Correct anything it misread, then click Insert Data.

This is the best free option for a scanned PDF on a Mac, since the text recognition happens inside Excel. Its limits: one image at a time, so a 12-page report means 12 screenshots, and the language list is limited to English and a set of European languages. Zoom in on the PDF before taking the screenshot; a larger, sharper image gives far fewer misread digits.

Method 3: Numbers as a cleanup and CSV tool

Numbers cannot open or import PDFs either, but it is handy once the data is pasted. Paste the copied table into a Numbers sheet, tidy the columns, and then export. Apple's export guide for Numbers covers both outputs:

• File > Export To > Excel creates an .xlsx, with a worksheet per table or per sheet.
• File > Export To > CSV writes comma-separated text, with a choice of one file per table or all tables combined. Advanced Options sets the text encoding; leave it on Unicode (UTF-8) unless the receiving program needs something else.

Method 4: Adobe Acrobat Pro for Mac

For long tables, Acrobat Pro is the most capable desktop option on macOS. The Mac version uses the same Export a PDF tool as Windows: pick Microsoft Excel, convert, and save. Turn on single-worksheet output for multi-page tables and set the separators to match the document. The full walkthrough, including settings and fixes, is in Adobe Acrobat PDF to Excel. Other Mac PDF editors with an Excel export include Nitro PDF Pro for Mac (File > Export > Excel Document); see the Nitro guide.

Method 5: free online converters

If you need to convert a PDF to Excel on a Mac for free and the table is too big to paste, a web converter is the practical answer. Adobe's online PDF to Excel tool runs in Safari or Chrome on macOS without installing anything, and basic conversion needs no sign-in. Nitro and Foxit run similar pages. The catch is privacy: the file is uploaded to the provider's servers. That is fine for a public price list and worth a second thought for payroll, medical or banking documents.

Method 6: Google Sheets through Drive

Upload the PDF to Google Drive, open it with Google Docs to get recognized text, then copy the table into Sheets and split it into columns. It is free and handles scans, though tables often lose their structure along the way. Step-by-step instructions are in import a PDF to Google Sheets. From Sheets, File > Download gives you either an .xlsx or a .csv.

How do you convert a PDF to CSV on a Mac?

No common Mac tool exports a PDF straight to CSV. Get the data into a spreadsheet with one of the methods above, check it, then save it as CSV:

1. In Excel for Mac, choose File > Save As.
2. Open the File Format menu and pick CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited).
3. Click Save and accept the warning that only the active sheet is saved.

Numbers users can use File > Export To > CSV instead. Before importing the CSV elsewhere, open it in TextEdit (Format > Make Plain Text) to confirm the dates, the separators and any accented characters look right. The Acrobat-specific version of this hop is covered in Adobe PDF to CSV.

What if the PDF is a bank statement?

Statements are the hardest PDFs for every method above: long descriptions wrap, balances share the row, and pages repeat their headings. On a Mac, where the Windows PDF import is not an option, a statement-specific converter is often the shortest path. QuickBankConvert works from any Mac browser, reads the transaction table and returns one row per transaction with a signed amount, ready as Excel or CSV. Its statement PDF to Excel page shows the output, and our review of bank statement converters for Mac compares it with the alternatives.

Related guides

• How to turn a PDF into Excel: every method
• Convert a PDF table to Excel
• Foxit: convert PDF to Excel