How to Copy Table from PDF to Word: With/Without Acrobat

When you have one table in PDF format that you want to copy to Word, you may find it difficult to find an effective way to do it. Unlike copying the table from Word to Word, you can not simply use the copy and paste command to copy the table from PDF to Word directly.

If you are those who just want an effective solution for how to copy tables from PDF to Word, you should continue reading. We are sure you can find what you need.

Way 1. How to Copy Table from PDF to Word Without Losing Formatting (PC&Mobile&Online)

The best way to copy and paste a table from PDF to Word without losing formatting is to use UPDF. In addition to allowing you to create a table in PDF, it also offers a converting feature that can help you convert PDF to Word without losing formatting. With this feature, you can copy and paste table from PDF to Word easily.

What makes it stand out here is that it has an OCR feature that allows you to copy tables from scanned PDF to Word and a batch conversion feature that can help you copy tables from all PDF files to Word at one time.

If you are interested in how to copy table from PDF for these 3 scenarios with UPDF, you can click the below button to download UPDF on your computer and follow the below guides to copy the table from PDF to Word.

1. Copy the Table in PDF to Word by Using UPDF AI (PC&Online)

Step 1. Launch the UPDF on your computer and open the PDF with the data you need.

Step 2. Click on the "UPDF AI" icon on the bottom right side, switch to "Chat" mode, go to the chat box, and find the "Screenshot" icon, and click on it to select the table in the opened PDF. Enter the prompt like "Extract the data into one table for me to copy into excel" and press enter. In seconds, you can get a table to copy.

In seconds, you can get a table to copy.

Step 3. Open Word or create a blank Word. Now, paste the copied content into Word.

Step 4. Next, select all the copied table content. In the top menu bar, click ​"Insert", then click the arrow under ​"Table"​ to open the dropdown menu, and select ​"Convert Text to Table"​ in Word.

Step 5. Since the table content copied from AI is divided by the ​​"|"​​ symbol, in the ​​"Separate text at"​​ field, select ​​"Other"​​ and enter ​​"|"​. Word will automatically calculate the ​table size, i.e., ​number of columns​ and ​number of rows. Once done, click ​​"OK"​.

Step 6. You will find that the table is converted to your Word document successfully without losing the layout and format. Let's say, the table in your Word document looks like exactly the same as the original table in your PDF document. Amazing, right?

If you don't want to deal with the inconvenience of downloading an app on your computer, there are various OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software options available online, for example, UPDF Online AI Assistant.

UPDF's online AI assistant is an AI-powered OCR tool that can perform OCR effortlessly on images and scanned documents. It provides the highest data extraction accuracy, as it is powered through GPT-5 and Deepseek R1. All it requires is uploading the image or scanned PDF and then asking the AI to extract the data.

Then, copy and paste the table in Word.

This is the whole process to copy and paste a table from PDF to Word. Easy, right? Try it Now!

2. Copy Table from Scanned PDF to Word (PC)

Step 1. Perform OCR on the Scanned PDF

Open PDF in UPDF, then, find the "OCR" icon in "Tools" and click on it.

Then, choose the settings you need and click "Convert" to start the process.

Step 2. Convert Scanned PDF to Editable Word

Now, the OCRED PDF file will open automatically on the UPDF. You can select "Word" as the output format in "Tools".

Then, hit the "Apply" button to convert scanned PDF to Word successfully.

When the process is done, you can open the Word file on your computer. You can copy the table to any other Word file.

3. Copy Table from Multiple PDFs to Word (PC)

Step 1. Convert PDFs to Word Files in Bulk

You can download UPDF via the below button if you do not have it on your computer. Double-click on its icon to open it. Click "Tools" > "Convert" > "Add Files" to select all PDF files that contain the tables you need. Make sure it is "Word" in the Output Format. If your PDF is scanned, enable "OCR Recognition" to extract the data and make it editable. Also, remember to choose the document language for accurate OCR. Then, click on "Apply" to convert PDF files to Word files at one time.

Step 2. Copy Tables from PDF Files to Word

Open the Word files and find the tables you need, then, copy and paste them to the Word file you need.

With UPDF, you can meet all your requirements. Why not download UPDF via the below button and use it now.

4. Copy Table from Scanned PDF to Word (Mobile)

Step 1. Install the UPDF app and launch it.

Step 2. Go to "File" section, select "Files", "Computer" or "Cloud Drive" under the "Import From" option. Select the scanned PDF to import into the UPDF app.

Step 3. After importing the file, open the file and choose "OCR" from the bottom menu.

Step 4. Under "OCR Recognition Type", choose one of the following options:

• Editable PDF: This mode preserves the background images and illustrations from the original document and places the
  recognized text on top. As a result, the file size is usually larger than those created with the "Text and Pictures Only" mode. Visually, the output may look slightly different from the original.
• Text and pictures only: This mode saves the recognized text and images, resulting in a smaller PDF file. However, the
  appearance may differ slightly from the original document.
• Searchable PDF Only: In this mode, the page image is preserved, and the recognized text is added in an invisible layer
  beneath it. This keeps the document visually almost identical to the original.

Step 5. Click "Select PDF Language" and choose the document language. Select multiple languages if the document contains text in more than one language.

Step 6. Configure the "Export to" location to specify where you want to save the OCRed PDF and hit the "Done" button to begin OCR.

Step 7. Wait for the OCR to finish. Once the OCR is completed, go to the "Files" tab and open the newly-generated OCRed PDF. 

Step 8. Select ​"Convert"​ from the toolbar below to turn the OCRed PDF into "Word". Customize the setting if needed and click "Done".

Now, you can open the newly converted Word file, copy and paste the table from this document to another location.

Related reading:

• How to Convert a Sanned PDF to Word
• How to Convert Image PDF to Word
• How to Copy PDF to Word Document
• How to Insert PDF into Word
• How to Extract PDF to Word

Video Tutorial on How to Copy Table from PDF to Word Easily

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Way 2. How to Copy a PDF Table into Word with Adobe Acrobat

Many of you may have Adobe Acrobat on your computer and want to know if you can use it to copy a table from PDF to Word. Yes, you can do that. What you need to do is to follow the below steps to convert the PDF file to Word, then, copy and paste the table to Word:

• Step 1: Find the PDF file on your computer right-click on it and choose "Open With > Adobe Acrobat".
• Step 2: Once the document is open in Adobe Acrobat, click on "File" in the top-right corner.
• Step 3: From the options that show up, select "Convert to Word, Excel, or PowerPoint".
• Step 4: This will open the conversion window. Click on the "Export to Word" option and your PDF will be converted to Word format.

• You can then open the resultant Word document and then copy and paste the table to a new Word document. Please note, however, that this method will only be useful to you if you sign in to your Adobe account. Adobe Acrobat is also an expensive premium tool that you need to purchase to use.

Which Method is Better to Copy a Table from PDF to Word?

Here I want to compare the price, performance, and rating between UPDF and Acrobat in order to let you choose wisely.

	UPDF	Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
Price	US$39.99/Year US$69.99/Lifetime	US$239.88/Year
System Compatibility	Windows Mac iOS Android Online for AI Only	Windows Mac iOS Android Online
Easy to Use
All-in-one Platform
Convert PDF to Office Format	To Word, Excel, CSV, and PowerPoint	To Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (Doesn't support CSV)
Convert PDF to GIF
Keep Original Formatting and Layout
OCR
Chat with PDF and Ask Anything
Chat with Images
Convert PDF to Mind Map
UI Design Rating	4.9	4.3
Running Speed	4.8	4.0

For a more detailed comparison, please check this article about Adobe vs. UPDF.

Through the comparison chart, you can see that Adobe Acrobat is no doubt a good PDF converter, however, it is complex to use, and the price is way too high for personal users and business users. If you want to have the most cost-effective PDF converter, UPDF is your best choice. Upgrade UPDF to Pro now with an exclusive discount and use it on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.

Final Words

If you follow this guide on how to copy table from PDF to Word, you will not have any problem. But it is unnecessary to use two methods at the same time. If you ask me which method is better to use, I will say "UPDF". It is cheaper and much easier to use. Why not choose it? You can download it and try it on your own!