How to Embed Excel in PDF? (3 Effective Methods)

Do you ever find yourself constantly emailing Excel spreadsheets and PDFs back and forth? It can be a real pain managing all those files. Instead of juggling multiple documents, why not embed your spreadsheet right inside your PDF document?  Embedding Excel files into your PDF documents makes it easy to have one document rather than in separate PDF and Excel files. Learning how to embed Excel files in PDF can save you time and effort. In this article we will explore three effective methods for embedding Excel in PDF documents as an attachment or clickable link using UPDF, Adobe Acrobat, and the online tool PDFFiller.

Part 1. How to Embed an Excel File in PDF with UPDF? 

UPDF is an innovative PDF editor providing a complete solution for working with PDFs. One of the useful features UPDF offers is the ability to embed external files like Excel spreadsheets into a PDF document either as clickable links or attachments. The embedded file acts as an integrated object within the PDF that can be clicked to launch the original source file. Start by downloading and installing UPDF to your desktop.

Way 1. Insert Excel in PDF as an Attachment

If you want users to be able to open the embedded Excel file outside of the PDF, attaching it is the best option. Follow these steps to insert Excel in PDF as an attachment:  Run UPDF and click "Open File" to  Open the PDF in UPDF.

2. Click on "Comment" in the side toolbar.

3. Click "Attach File" on the top toolbar.

4. Go to the page where you want to embed the Excel file and click the place where you want to add the attached file.   

5. After you click the place where you want to add the attached excel, a pop-up window will appear then select the Excel file you want to embed and click open.

6. The Excel file will be inserted and displayed as an icon on the PDF page.

7. To customize the properties of the attachment, right-click on the attachment icon within your PDF. Then, click "Properties.

8. You can change the icon type, icon color, and adjust the opacity.

9. After customizing the properties, make sure to save the updated file. To do this, click "File" at  the top menu bar and then select either "Save" or "Save as" and finally the Excel file is embedded in the PDF as an attachment.

Video guide on How to Add Attachment to PDF on Windows

Way 2. Embed Excel File in PDF as a Link

This method inserts a clickable link in the PDF that opens the Excel file in a web viewer. Readers can view the Excel contents in the browser without downloading the file.

1. Upload the Excel file to a cloud storage platform like Google Cloud, to do that locate the "+ New" button and click on it. From the dropdown menu, select "File Upload."

2. Choose the Excel file that you want to embed in your PDF from your device and click open to upload it to Google Drive. Now, you can copy the link of the Excel.

3.  Run UPDF and click "Open File" to open the PDF in UPDF (download the UPDF app here if you don't have it install yet.)

4.  In UPDF, go to the desired page, and select "Edit PDF." at the sidebar.

5. Click "Link" in the top menu then "Link to Web" and paste in the Excel link into the URL field.

6. The Excel spreadsheet is now embedded in the PDF as a clickable link.

7. To customize the properties of the attachment, right-click on the attachment link icon within your PDF. Then, click the "Properties" button.

8. You can change the icon type, icon color, and adjust the opacity.

9. Save the updated PDF, to do this, click "File" at  the top menu bar and then select either "Save" or "Save as" and finally the Excel file is embedded in the PDF as an attachment.

Along with its seamless Excel embedding capabilities, UPDF provides a complete set of PDF solutions including editing, conversion, e-signing, form filling, and more. The user-friendly interface makes working with PDFs intuitive for beginners and experts alike. Download UPDF now to easily embed Excel files in PDF files. If you want to purchase UPDF, you can enjoy big discount now via clicking here.

Also Read: How to Open Attachments in PDF with 2 Effortless Ways

Part 2. How to Embed Excel file in PDF With Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat is a widely recognized software for handling PDF documents. While it's most commonly associated with creating and modifying PDFs, it also offers the capability to seamlessly integrate Excel spreadsheets into PDF files as clickable elements within the PDF. Here are the steps:

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat.

2. Go to the page where you want to embed the Excel file,  Click edit on the top menu bar and click attach file on the drop-down

3. Then point the attach icon to the area you want to attach the Excel on the PDF page and left click to Select your desired Excel file and click open

4. Configure Embedding and select the Attachment option, then click OK.
5. Click the "Save" icon located in the menu bar at the upper right corner to update the PDF document.

Part 3. How to Insert Excel in PDF Online Free With PDFFiller

For a free online option, PDFFiller provides basic Excel embedding functionality on how to insert Excel files in PDF. PDFFiller is an online PDF editor, which includes the ability to insert links into PDF documents. By linking to an Excel file uploaded online, you can embed spreadsheets into PDFs through PDFFiller. Follow these steps to embed an Excel link in PDFs with PDFFiller:

1. Upload the Excel file to a cloud storage platform like Google Cloud, to do that locate the "+ New" button and click on it. From the dropdown menu, select "File Upload."

2. Choose the Excel file that you want to embed in your PDF from your device and click open upload it to Google Drive.  

3. Copy the shareable link.

4. On your Browser go to PDFFiller.com and upload the PDF you want to edit.

5. Point your cursor where you want it on the PDF page and left-click
6. select the Link tool from the top menu, paste your Google link into the URL field, and click save

7. Click on the icon Save the PDF to finalize the changes and download.

Final Thoughts

Embedding Excel files in PDF documents provides a streamlined way to combine spreadsheets with reports, proposals, and more. While several PDF editors support Excel embedding, UPDF offers the most seamless native solution with attachment and linking options on how to embed an Excel file in PDF. With its user-friendly interface and full-featured toolset, UPDF makes inserting Excel in PDFs intuitive and straightforward. Download UPDF and enjoy a seamless PDF-Excel integration. Once you are satisfied with its functionality, upgrade to the UPDF Pro version to fully enjoy all the features of this tool.