# Extract Tables from PDF

> Detect tables in PDF files and download them as CSV. Pure-browser table extraction.

Live tool: https://lofttools.com/tools/pdf-tools/extract-pdf-tables

Category: PDF & Documents

## How it works

1. **Select PDF** — Drop the PDF that contains the tables, or click to browse
2. **Review detected tables** — We scan every page and list each detected table with row and column counts. Toggle which ones to export.
3. **Download CSV or ZIP** — One table downloads as a single CSV. Multiple tables bundle into a ZIP — Excel and Google Sheets open both natively.

## FAQ

### How accurate is table detection?

The detector groups text by Y-position into rows, then by X-gaps into columns. Cleanly aligned tables with consistent column gaps detect reliably. Multi-column page layouts, tables without clear gaps, or merged cells reduce accuracy — review the preview before exporting.

### Does this work on scanned PDFs?

No. This tool only reads text-layer PDFs (PDFs you can copy text from). For scanned or image-only PDFs, run our OCR PDF tool first to add a text layer, then come back here.

### Why CSV and not XLSX?

CSV opens natively in Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets, and every spreadsheet app — no library bloat, no compatibility surprises. If you need XLSX specifically, open the CSV in Excel and Save As xlsx.

### Does the file leave my device?

No. Detection runs entirely in your browser via PDF.js — no upload, no server processing.

## Privacy

This tool runs entirely in the browser. Files are not uploaded to a server. They never leave the user's device.

## More

- All tools: https://lofttools.com/tools
- Category: https://lofttools.com/tools/pdf-tools
- LLM index: https://lofttools.com/llms.txt