The most reliable way to copy a table from a PDF to Word is to open the PDF in Word itself: go to File > Open, choose the PDF, and click OK when Word offers to convert it. Word rebuilds the table as a real, editable table, which you can then copy into your document. For messy tables, Excel’s Get Data > From PDF tool often does an even cleaner job, and you can paste the result into Word.
Plain copy and paste from a PDF reader usually turns a table into a jumble of text. Below are four methods that keep rows and columns intact, and how to fix a table that pastes as plain text.
Method 1: Open the PDF in Word
- Open Word and go to File > Open > Browse.
- Select the PDF and click Open. You can also right-click the PDF in File Explorer and choose Open with > Word.
- Click OK on the message saying Word will convert the PDF into an editable document. Large files can take a minute.
- Click inside the table, then click the four-arrow handle at its top-left corner to select the whole table.
- Press Ctrl + C, switch to your document, and press Ctrl + V.
Word’s conversion works best on PDFs that were created from Word or another text program. Complex layouts may shift, so check that cells line up after pasting.
Method 2: Use Excel’s PDF import
Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows can pull tables straight out of a PDF, and it’s often the cleanest method for data-heavy tables.
- Open a blank workbook in Excel.
- Go to Data > Get Data > From File > From PDF.
- Select the PDF. The Navigator lists every table Excel found; click one to preview it.
- Click Load.
- Select the table in Excel, copy it, and paste it into Word. Use Keep Source Formatting or Use Destination Styles from the paste options.
Method 3: Copy with formatting from Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Open the PDF in Acrobat Reader.
- Drag across the table to select it.
- Right-click and choose Copy with Formatting, if it’s available.
- Paste into Word.
Results vary. Simple tables usually paste well; tables with merged cells often don’t. Adobe’s paid Acrobat can also export a whole PDF to Word with Export PDF.
Method 4: Paste as text and convert it to a table
If the table pastes as plain text with spaces or tabs between columns, Word can turn it back into a table.
- Paste the text into Word.
- Make sure each row is on its own line and columns are separated consistently, ideally by tabs. Use Find and Replace if needed (for example, replace two spaces with
^t, the tab code). - Select the text.
- Go to Insert > Table > Convert Text to Table.
- Choose Tabs (or whichever separator you used) and check the number of columns, then click OK.
Which method should you use?
| Situation | Best method |
|---|---|
| Simple table in a text-based PDF | Open the PDF in Word |
| Numbers, financial data, or several tables | Excel Get Data > From PDF |
| You only have Acrobat Reader | Copy with Formatting |
| Table pasted as a block of text | Convert Text to Table |
| Scanned PDF (image of a table) | OCR first, then any method above |
Scanned PDFs
If you can’t select any text in the PDF, it’s a scanned image. You’ll need OCR (optical character recognition) to turn it into text first. Adobe Acrobat’s paid version, OneNote’s Copy Text from Picture, and Excel’s Data from Picture feature (which turns a screenshot of a table into cells) can help. Always proofread OCR results, because numbers like 1 and 7 or 0 and 8 are easily misread.
Clean up the table in Word
- Apply a style from Table Design so the table matches your document.
- Use Layout > AutoFit > AutoFit Window to fit the page width.
- Merge or split cells under Layout if the conversion broke any.
- Repeat the header row on each page with Layout > Repeat Header Rows.
- Check totals and figures against the original PDF.
Related: How to convert PDF to Word.
Related: How to open a PDF in Microsoft Word.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my PDF table paste as one long line?
PDFs store text by position on the page, not as table cells, so most readers lose the structure. Opening the PDF in Word or using Excel’s PDF import rebuilds it.
Can I copy a table from a PDF to Word on a Mac?
Yes. Open the PDF in Word for Mac with File > Open, or copy from Preview and use Convert Text to Table.
Can Google Docs convert a PDF table?
Partly. Upload the PDF to Google Drive and open it with Google Docs. Docs extracts the text, but tables usually lose their structure, so Word or Excel gives better results.
Do I need Adobe Acrobat?
No. Word and Excel can handle most text-based PDFs on their own.
Kermit Matthews is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with more than a decade of experience writing technology guides. He has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science and has spent much of his professional career in IT management.
He specializes in writing content about iPhones, Android devices, Microsoft Office, and many other popular applications and devices.