Show HN: Fastest way to convert a PDF table to Excel (table2xl.com)

6 points by f_k 2y ago ↗ HN

We built a Windows app to convert PDF tables to Excel. You just have to take a screenshot of the table.

Why try yet another app when there's so many PDF to Excel converters? It's faster, easier to use and more accurate than other converters (including Excel's Power Query).

I would be interested in hearing any feedback.

3 comments

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f_k 2y ago ↗

Feel free to try it with complex tables (like the ones found in financial documents).

simonblack 2y ago ↗

Why just convert tables when you can convert whole rental_statements? When you can verify whether your conversion is correct by reconciling inputs and outputs? When the data gets inserted directly into the financial database? And that data can be 'SELECT'ed later into a spreadsheet whenever you so desire.

My comment is not quite so facetious as it might appear. I feel your price:effect ratio is a bit too high. Especially if you want to have a subscription model. Most people have instances of one-off requirements for an app like yours. Those instances may not occur regularly enough to justify a monthly subscription. I wrote my app above purely for our internal use, but that could be rewritten by you and be used by many small-business landlords out there every month.

qwerty456127 2y ago ↗

Fun fact: Okular (the default PDF reader in KDE, also available for Windows) let's you select and copy a table column (not just a row sequence) easily. This saved me tons of time when copy-pasting data from PDFs to spredsheets.