PDF to Excel converter that gives you real numbers, not text
Copying a table out of a PDF usually ends with numbers stuck in one cell and dates as text. Your todo.is agent reads the tables in your PDF, rebuilds them in Excel with proper number and date columns, and checks that the totals still add up.
The prompt
- Pull the tables out of the attached PDF into an Excel file: [ATTACH THE PDF]. I need [WHICH TABLES]. Put each table on its own sheet named after its title, with one header row. Make numbers real numbers (no currency symbols or thousands separators in the cell), dates real dates in [DATE FORMAT], and remove repeated headers and page footers between pages. If a table has a total row, check that it matches the sum and tell me if it does not. Freeze the header row and give me the .xlsx file.
What to change
- [ATTACH THE PDF]: Attach the PDF. Scanned PDFs work too; your agent runs OCR first.
- [WHICH TABLES]: E.g. "all tables", "only the price list on pages 4 to 9" or "the transactions table".
- [DATE FORMAT]: E.g. "DD/MM/YYYY", "YYYY-MM-DD" or "as in the PDF".
Example result
- PDF to Excel: Supplier_Price_List_2026.pdf
- 18 pages · 4 tables found · 4 sheets · 312 data rows
- Sheets in the workbook
- • Price list (pages 2 to 7): 248 rows · columns: SKU, Product, Pack size, Unit price, Min order
- • Volume discounts (page 8): 12 rows · columns: Tier, From qty, To qty, Discount %
- • Shipping zones (page 9): 36 rows · columns: Zone, Country, Days, Cost
- • Summary (page 18): 16 rows with a total row
- Clean-up your agent did
- • The price list ran over 6 pages. The repeated header on each page and the "Page 3 of 18" footers were removed, so it is one continuous table
- • "€1.249,50" became the number 1249.50 in a column formatted as euro, so you can sort and sum it
- • "12 %" became 0.12 formatted as a percentage
- • Dates like "03 Feb 2026" became real Excel dates (DD/MM/YYYY)
- • Merged cells in the header were split into one header per column
- Checks
- • Summary total in the PDF: 48,720.00. Sum of the rows: 48,720.00. Match
- • 2 SKUs (FW-1182, FW-1190) had no price in the PDF. They are highlighted yellow so you can fill them in
- Ready to use
- The header row is frozen, filters are on, and every column has the right width. Ask for a CSV copy if you need to import it into another system.
How to do it with todo.is
- Copy the prompt, say which tables you need and your date format.
- Attach the PDF in the todo.is app, or send both to your agent on WhatsApp or Telegram.
- Your agent finds the tables, rebuilds them in Excel and checks the totals.
- Download the .xlsx, or reply "add a column for price with VAT" to keep working on it.
Tips for a better result
- Tell your agent the table names or page numbers if the PDF has lots of tables. It skips decoration and small layout tables.
- For bank statements and invoices there are specific prompts that also categorize rows. They give you more than a plain table.
- Ask for a "check" column that flags rows where a number could not be read. It is quicker than checking every cell.
- Need the same report converted every month? Make it a recurring to-do and forward the new PDF each time.
PDF to Excel converter: FAQ
- Can I convert a scanned PDF table to Excel? Yes. Your agent runs OCR on the scan first, then builds the table. Clear scans give the best results, so check numbers from blurry pages.
- Why are my numbers stored as text after conversion? Currency symbols, spaces and commas stop Excel from reading them as numbers. Your agent strips those and sets the cell format, so sums and sorting work.
- Can it handle a table that continues over many pages? Yes. It joins the pages into one table and removes the repeated headers and footers.
- Can I get Google Sheets instead? You get an .xlsx file, which opens directly in Google Sheets. With Google connected, your agent can also save it to your Drive.
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