How to export PDF files from Acrobat to Excel, and Excel to Acrobat

We'll show you how.

You have just a few choices when working with PDFs and Microsoft Excel compared to everything you can do with PDFs in Microsoft Word. You cannot import PDFs from Adobe Acrobat directly into Excel 2016. However, you can export PDFs from Excel to Acrobat, and you can export from Acrobat to Excel. We'll show you how.

Table of Contents

Export from Excel to Acrobat
Export from Acrobat to Excel

Export from Excel to Acrobat

1. To export from Excel to Acrobat, open an Excel spreadsheet.
2. Then choose File > Export, and click the Create PDF/XPS button.

xl15 file export create pdf — File export create pdf

3. The Publish As PDF screen appears and displays the Excel filename, followed by the Acrobat extension PDF in the File Name field box, followed by the PDF extension in the Save As Type field box (Products.pdf).
4. Click the Publish button and the system jumps to Adobe Acrobat. showing your Excel spreadsheet as an Acrobat PDF file.

xl16 publish and jump to acrobat — Publish and jump to Acrobat

5. Choose File > Save As, then browse to the applicable folder (if necessary).
6. On the Save As screen, confirm the File Name (or change it), select Adobe PDF files (*.pdf) for the Save As Type, then click the Save button. Conversion complete!

xl17 save as adobe pdf — Save As Adobe pdf

Export from Acrobat to Excel

1. To export the PDF from Acrobat to Excel, open the PDF file.
2. Select Export To > Spreadsheet > Microsoft Excel Workbook.
3. On the Save As screen, Acrobat enters the Export File Name for you followed by the Excel extension xlsx.
4. Ensure the Save As Type says: Excel Workbook (*.xlsx).
5. Click the Save button and the conversion is complete!