How to Convert Scanned PDFs to Excel in Bulk with PDF.co and Make
Converting scanned PDFs to Excel has never been easier, spending a lot of time manually extracting data from scanned PDF documents and manually inputting them into Excel spreadsheets. With PDF.co and Make, you can convert scanned PDFs to Excel in bulk with just a few clicks, saving you time and effort.
PDF.co PDF to Excel is a powerful PDF processing tool that specializes in converting PDF documents to Excel spreadsheets. With PDF.co’s advanced optical character recognition (OCR) technology, it can accurately extract text, tables, and other data elements from PDF documents, including scanned PDFs, and convert them into editable Excel format.
This tutorial shows you how to monitor a Google Drive folder, convert newly added scanned PDFs into Excel files with PDF.co, and save the results in another Drive folder.
PDF.co applies optical character recognition to scanned pages during conversion, allowing text and tables to be transferred into an editable spreadsheet.
What You’ll Need
- A PDF.co account
- A Make account
- A Google Drive folder containing scanned PDFs
- A Google Drive folder for the converted Excel files
Create the Scenario
Sign in to Make and create a new scenario. Add Google Drive as the first module and select Watch Files in a Folder.
Configure the module:
- Connect your Google Drive account.
- Select the drive and source folder containing the scanned PDFs.
- Choose whether to watch files by their creation or modification time.
- Set the maximum number of files to process during each scenario run.
Each file returned by this module is processed as a separate bundle, allowing the scenario to convert multiple PDFs during one scheduled run.
Download Each PDF
Add another Google Drive module and select Download a File.
Map the file ID returned by Watch Files in a Folder to the File ID field. This gives PDF.co access to the contents of private Drive files without requiring public sharing links.
If the watched folder may contain other formats, add a filter so that only PDF files continue through the workflow.
Convert the Scanned PDF to Excel
Add the PDF.co app and select Convert from PDF.
Configure the module:
- Create or select your PDF.co connection.
- For the input method, choose Upload a File.
- Map the file downloaded by the Google Drive module to the source file field.
- In Convert Type, select PDF to XLSX or the available Excel conversion option.
- Leave Pages empty to convert the entire document, or enter a page range such as
0-4. - Select the appropriate OCR language for the scanned documents, if that option is displayed.
- Enter an output filename ending in
.xlsx.
You can build the filename dynamically from the original PDF name.
Download the Converted File
PDF.co returns a temporary URL for the generated Excel file.
Add the HTTP module and select Download a File or Get a File. Map the output URL from PDF.co into the URL field.
This retrieves the generated spreadsheet so it can be saved permanently.
Upload the Excel File to Google Drive
Add Google Drive and select Upload a File.
Configure the module:
- Select the destination folder for the Excel files.
- Map the file data returned by the HTTP module.
- Map the filename created in the PDF.co step.
Test and Activate the Scenario
Click Run once, then add one or more scanned PDFs to the watched folder.
Confirm that:
- Google Drive detects each PDF.
- PDF.co converts each file into Excel format.
- The converted spreadsheets appear in the destination folder.
Set the scenario’s schedule and activate it. Make will now process new scanned PDFs in batches according to the schedule and file limit you configured.
In this tutorial, you learned how to convert scanned PDFs to Excel format in Bulk using PDF.co and Make. You learned how to connect and utilize cloud storage services, such as Google Drive, to store and access files for conversion. You also learned and initiate the bulk conversion of scanned PDF files to Excel format.
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