# Convert a PDF invoice to Excel

Drop the invoice PDF you were sent. If it carries an e-invoice inside it, that is what gets read. If it does not, the invoice printed on the page is read instead, a scan included, and what comes back is columns rather than a picture.

Source: https://tally-stick.com/pdf-to-excel

## Three kinds of PDF, three ways of reading

A ZUGFeRD or Factur-X PDF has the whole invoice attached as XML, so every figure comes out exactly as the sender wrote it. An ordinary PDF from accounting software has a text layer, and the invoice is read off the page. A scan or a photograph has neither, so text recognition runs on it here in the tab. The result says which of the three it was, next to a totals check, so a recognised figure is never shown as though it had been extracted.

## What you get out

- Invoice number, issue and due date, currency and buyer reference
- Seller and buyer name, address and VAT number
- Every line: description, quantity, unit, unit price and VAT rate
- VAT per rate with its taxable base, down to the amount due
- IBAN and payment terms when the invoice carries them
- Which reading it came from: attached XML, page text, or recognised text

## Questions

### Does it read a scanned invoice?

Yes. When the page carries no text of its own, text recognition runs in this tab and fills the same columns. How much of it is right depends on the scan, so check the figures; the totals check says whether the lines still add up to the stated total.

### Is the file uploaded anywhere?

No, it is read in this tab. Reading a PDF makes the page fetch the reader libraries from a CDN, and the [privacy page](https://tally-stick.com/privacy) says what that request reveals. The invoice is not part of it.

### My PDF is a ZUGFeRD file.

Then the XML attached to it is read instead of the page and nothing is guessed at. [ZUGFeRD to Excel](https://tally-stick.com/zugferd-to-excel) is the same tool under the name you were looking for.

## Related

- [PDF invoice to CSV](https://tally-stick.com/pdf-to-csv)
- [ZUGFeRD to Excel](https://tally-stick.com/zugferd-to-excel)
- [XRechnung to Excel](https://tally-stick.com/xrechnung-to-excel)
- [PDF invoice to JSON](https://tally-stick.com/pdf-to-json)
- [Factur-X to Excel](https://tally-stick.com/factur-x-to-excel)

## How it works

The invoice is read on your own device. No file is uploaded, no account is required, and the fair usage limit is the only cap. Exports are PDF, Excel, CSV and JSON.