How to tell a scanned PDF from a text PDF
Before converting a PDF table to Excel, check that it's a text PDF. Scanned PDFs store text as a picture, so table converters can't read it.
1. Easiest: try selecting the text
- Open the PDF in Chrome, Edge or a PDF viewer.
- Drag your mouse across words inside the table.
- If individual words highlight, it's a text PDF. If the whole page or a big rectangle highlights, it's a scan (a picture).
2. Search
Press Ctrl + F and search for a word you can see. Found → there is text. Not found → it's probably an image.
3. Font list (document properties)
Some PDF viewers show a font list under Document Properties (the menu name and location vary by program). An empty list suggests a scan with no text information.
4. Caveats
- A scan that has been through OCR carries invisible text over the picture. Selecting and searching may work even though it began as a scan, and the recognized text can contain mistakes.
- Even a text PDF can produce garbled characters if the program that created it didn't store the text properly.
5. If it's a scan
- Ask the sender for a PDF saved directly from the original program (Excel, Word, accounting software). That is the most reliable route.
- This site's converter does not convert scanned PDFs. It has no OCR.
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Open the converter · Related: Why PDF tables break in Excel
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