Excel Output Alternatives with Able2Extract's - PDF to Excel Conversion Option

When undertaking a PDF to Excel conversion, you will be prompted with the following dialog box:

The above dialog box gives you two options for your PDF to Excel Conversion.

1. Automatic - The default conversion option into Excel is recommended for most conversions into Excel. Under this conversion option, the software algorithm automatically determines the positioning of the Excel columns. In most cases, this will result in perfect alignment within Excel.
   
   In cases where the “Automatic” conversion results in column misalignments within Excel, the user may want to choose the “Custom” conversion option. The “Custom” conversion option allows the user to designate the columns prior to conversion to Excel.
   
   
2. Custom - This option allows the user to make a manual designation as to where the columns of data will be created once converted into Excel.  This designation is made visually by the user prior to conversion to Excel.
   
   The “Custom” option may be the most effective option in the following situations:
   
   • The “Automatic” conversion results in the misalignment of data within Excel.
     
   • The Document data being converted into Excel goes over multiple file pages. This is great for report data that is standardized across many pages.  
     
   •   The headers and footers of the document are causing misalignments within Excel.

If the "Custom" option is selected, you will be prompted with the following dialogue box::

The above dialogue box will offer you two formatting options and you must first choose one before you continue:

1. Per document- Creates a column structure that is consistent throughout the whole document. When this option is calculated, you will not be able to create sections within any particular page of your PDF.

2. Per page/section- Enables you to specify different column structures per Page or per Section.

After selecting one of the above options, a grid will appear on the document that appears in the Able2Extract PDF viewer based on the initial string selection (or randomly generated for a scanned/image PDF file):

New for version 7.0 is the Custom Excel conversion Panel - this panel provides the end-user with enhance controls for setting up columns, rows and sections. One major functionality change is the switch from using the right-mouse button back to the left-mouse button. The user can control the "mode" they are in for the left-click, but selecting the appropriate mode on the left side of the Panel.

Each of the grid lines above can be adjusted using the left-mouse button.  To remove a line, double-click the line using the left-mouse button.  To change the position of a line, left-click on the line, hold, and move it to its new position.  To add a line, left-click on the appropriate empty space.

For multi-page reports, users may want to exclude the headers or footers from the table.  This is controlled by the horizontal lines at the top and bottom of the page - to move the horizontal lines, use the right-mouse button as described above.  The following shows how the horizontal lines can be moved to exclude the headers and footers (note - even though the top horizontal line is below the headers, the first set of headers will always be retained):

The column structure generated in the "Custom" mode may run throughout the entire document.  For example, the following might occur if the initial column structure for page one differed from page three:

The above selection has been chosen by using the "Select Page Range...", but the above columns need to be adjusted for this particular table (additional columns that may have been appropriate for the initial page may not be appropriate for page 3 (in this case a few extra column lines need to be removed):

To generate Excel output for the above column structure (a three page table), simply press the icon.  The following demonstrates the output that would be generated from above selection in Excel (view is shrunk to show structure of Excel output):

You will note that the header is included at the top of the document, but headers and footers are excluded after the first header.  Separating the three page report are single Excel rows to indicate where the page breaks occur for the user.

Setting and Editing Row structure

Rows can be edited in both Custom modes (Per document and Per page/section). To activate this functionality, you must first click the checkbox in the Custom Excel Panel - under the segment labelled "Rows" - that says "Enable".

Once you have enabled row editing, the next step is to allow Able2Extract to Calculate the rows. To do so, you must click the "Calculate" button under the "Rows" segment of the conversion Panel. This will bring up a dialogue that will ask you to choose a column upon which to base your Row calculation. Once the rows have been set, you can now select "Rows" from the "Active Mode" portion of the conversion Panel - this will enable you to add, move, or delete rows (using the left-click mouse button).

Creating Sections

If your PDF document has different sections - such as two tables on the same page, then the Sections function may be an ideal solution for you. To create sections, you must first select the "Per page/section" option before entering the Custom Excel viewing mode.

To create a section after selecting "Per page/section", simply select the "Sections" mode under the Active Mode portion of the conversion Panel. You can name add, move or delete Sections (using the left-click mouse button).

 

 

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