If you’ve ever tried to copy and paste data from a PDF into Excel, you know it can be uglier than the tears shed by Duke fans on Saturday night. But dry your eyes: Power Query is an automation tool that allows users to import data into Excel from multiple different external sources, including PDFs.
First, navigate to the Data tab > Select Get Data > From File > From PDF. Now select the PDF file from your computer that contains the data you want to import into Excel, and hit “Import.” After the file is imported, the Navigation box will pop up with the file’s name on the left-hand side, with the data tables it contains listed below it. From here, simply select the table you want to import into Excel and hit “Load.” If you’re unsure which table you want to load, not a problem! Just select a table listed under the file’s name, and a preview of the table will appear on the right-hand side of the Navigator box.
Once you select “Load,” the table will automatically appear in your spreadsheet, ready to be analyzed!
