Job extract-pdf-price-lists-to-spreadsheet · revised 11 October 2026
Turn a text-based PDF price list into one checked spreadsheet
One PDF price list in one layout becomes one spreadsheet whose row counts match the source page by page. Every row we could not read with confidence is listed for you to decide.
You might be seeing
- Copying from the PDF into Excel puts several columns into one cell, or splits one product across several rows
- Nobody can say whether every line of the new list made it into the spreadsheet
No passwords, keys, card details or admin invites needed to start.
What usually happened
A price list that exists only as a PDF has to be re-keyed or pasted into a spreadsheet. A PDF stores text positioned on a page, not a table, so copying loses column boundaries, splits wrapped descriptions across rows and breaks tables at page ends. The spreadsheet looks plausible while some rows are missing, merged or shifted, and nobody has a check that it matches the document.
Who it’s for: An office manager, purchasing lead or small-business owner who re-types a supplier or catalogue price list from a PDF into a spreadsheet every time it changes.
Usually starts when: A new version of a price list arrives as a PDF, and the spreadsheet your team works from has to be updated by hand again.
The result: You receive one spreadsheet holding the rows of the agreed PDF in the agreed columns, with a page-by-page row-count reconciliation against the source, a sampled field-by-field comparison and a list of the rows we could not read with confidence, left for you to decide rather than guessed.
Check whether this job fits
Check these before you send anything. They need no files and nothing is submitted unless you choose to contact us.
Checks you can run yourself
Test whether the PDF has a text layer
Open the PDF, drag across a few price lines and paste them into a plain text editor. Do not upload the document to any website for this check.
Look for: Readable lines with numbers as digits mean a text layer exists. A blank paste, or a selection box that covers the whole page like a picture, means the pages are scans.
What you get
- One workbook with a data sheet, a reconciliation sheet (page, rows expected, rows extracted, difference) and an exceptions sheet
- A short method note: how the rows were read, how the sample was chosen and what the checks found
- The column and value rules we applied, so the next version of the list can be handled the same way
Included
- One PDF price list, or one set of PDFs in a single repeated layout, of up to 60 pages in total, where the text on every page can be selected and searched
- Agree the output columns, header names and how multi-line descriptions, units and entries such as "price on request" are shown, before any extraction
- Extract every table row into the workbook, keeping the source page and position on each row, and move rows that cannot be read cleanly to a separate exceptions sheet
- Compare row counts page by page and check an agreed sample of rows against the PDF, then report the measured result, not a promised accuracy
Not included
- Scanned or photographed pages with no selectable text; reading those is a separate text-recognition job and no accuracy is promised for it
- Confidential or personal documents in the first enquiry; secure handling is agreed after scoping
- Deciding which prices are right, negotiating with the supplier, or loading prices into a shop, stock or accounting system
- Legal, financial or tax advice, including advice on how prices or terms should be treated
- Handwriting, product images, or tables drawn as pictures
- A guarantee that every row is extracted without error
How we know it’s done
Agreed with you before work starts. Each check produces evidence you keep.
For every page of the agreed PDF, the number of data rows extracted equals the number of rows counted on that page, or the difference is listed with its page number on the exceptions sheet.
Evidence: The reconciliation sheet showing, per page, the rows expected, the rows extracted and the difference.
In an agreed random sample of rows, with the sample size and method written down beforehand, every extracted field equals the value printed in the PDF, and any mismatch is corrected or listed as an exception.
Evidence: The sample sheet showing row, field, PDF value, extracted value and the result of each comparison.
Every row that could not be read with confidence appears on the exceptions sheet with its page, position and reason, and none of those rows sits in the data sheet as if it were clean.
Evidence: The exceptions sheet and a count showing that no exception row appears in the data sheet.
You review the exceptions and sign off the data sheet, and the result is stated as the measured counts, not as a guaranteed accuracy.
Evidence: Your written sign-off and the method note.
Sign-off. You open the workbook beside the PDF, check the reconciliation and a few rows of your own choosing, settle the exceptions with us and sign off in writing. Payment follows sign-off.
If it fails. If the agreed checks do not pass, you do not pay for this fixed scope. If the PDF turns out to be scanned, to have several layouts or to be confidential, we explain why, hand back what we have and agree a re-quote or a stop. No surprise work.
When it fits, and when we stop
It fits when
- The PDF is text-based (you can select and search its text) and you are allowed to share it with a contractor
- The list is a table with the same columns throughout, and you can say what each column means
- The document contains no personal data, payment details or other special-category information
- A named person can review the exceptions sheet and sign off the result
We stop and tell you if
- The pages are images with no text layer, so reading them would be text recognition, not extraction
- The layout changes between sections so that one set of rules cannot cover it, and you do not want that quoted as a larger job
- The document is covered by terms that stop you sharing it, or holds personal or confidential data we have not agreed a secure route for
- The share of exceptions passes the limit agreed beforehand; we stop, report the count and agree whether to re-scope
What could go wrong
We never change your PDF or your existing spreadsheet; the result is a new workbook beside them. If you decide not to use it, delete it: nothing in your own systems has changed. Loading the prices into any other system is yours to do and is outside this job.
Scroll the table sideways to read it all.
| Risk | How we handle it |
|---|---|
| A row is merged with its neighbour or loses a wrapped description line. | Page-by-page expected and extracted counts, with source page and position on every row, expose merged and missing rows. |
| A price is read with the wrong decimal point or currency symbol. | Values are checked in the sample and against any totals the list itself carries; unclear values go to the exceptions sheet instead of being guessed. |
| The document turns out to be more sensitive than you thought. | No full document in the first enquiry. The secure route, who may see it and deletion are agreed after scoping, and we stop if personal or confidential data appears. |
A reviewer who did not do the extraction repeats the sampled comparison on different rows and checks every entry on the exceptions sheet against the page. You decide each exception and sign off. We do not claim the sheet is free of errors.
How we deliver
We arrange the work and independent review, then show you the result against the agreed checks. You keep authority over your systems.
- Agree in writing the columns, how unusual entries are shown, the sampling method and the share of exceptions that would stop the job
- Confirm that every page has a text layer and note any page that does not
- Extract the rows into a working copy of the workbook, keeping the source page and position on every row
- Reconcile the rows per page against the source and compare the agreed sample of rows field by field
- Have an independent reviewer repeat the sample on different rows and check the exceptions sheet against the page images
- Hand over the workbook, the method note and the exceptions; you resolve the exceptions and sign off
This is a one-off job, not a subscription. We confirm eligibility, the total price, a start window and a delivery date before you accept. Work starts only after the agreed files, the secure handling route and the acceptance checks are written down. An enquiry creates no charge or booking. We give no legal, medical, financial or tax advice.
Need to keep it working?
If a new list arrives every month or quarter, the same extraction can be agreed as a monthly responsibility. That is a separate quoted agreement.
Ongoing work is separately scoped and quoted: no monitoring, response-time guarantee or automatic subscription is included in this job.
Explore an ongoing engineering lane, or mention the responsibility you need in your enquiry.
What you can check
This is a new service. We have not delivered this job for a client yet.
Other ways to get this done
- If you use Excel for Windows or Microsoft 365, the Get Data from PDF feature can import tables from a text-based PDF, and you can check the result yourself. It reads tables, not scanned images. learn.microsoft.com
- Ask the supplier whether they can send the same list as a spreadsheet or CSV file. If they can, nothing needs extracting.
Questions
Can you read a scanned price list?
Not under this price. A scan has no text to extract, so it needs text recognition first, which is a separate job and carries no promised accuracy.
Will every row be exactly right?
We do not promise that. We reconcile row counts page by page, compare a sample field by field, and list every row we could not read with confidence for you to decide.
Do you load the prices into our shop or accounting system?
No. You receive a checked spreadsheet. Loading it elsewhere stays with you or with a separate agreement.
What happens when the supplier changes the layout?
A changed layout needs its own rules and may change the price. We say so before doing anything, and a monthly arrangement can cover new versions.
Send an enquiry
Send us
- The supplier name, the number of pages, and whether the text in the PDF can be selected and searched
- The column headings as you want them in the spreadsheet, with two or three invented example rows
- A single redacted or public sample page, if you have one; no complete list, price terms you consider confidential, or personal data
Later, once you agree
- The full PDF through the secure route we agree in writing, with your confirmation that you may share it
- Your decisions on the output columns, how unusual entries are shown and the share of exceptions that would make us stop
- A named person to review the exceptions and the sampled rows
You keep ownership of every file we work on and of what we return. No upload portal exists yet, and the first enquiry never includes documents: send a description, counts and an invented or redacted sample only. Work can start only after we have agreed with you, in writing, a secure way to hand the files over, who may see them, how long we keep them and how we delete them. If we cannot offer a way you are comfortable with, we decline and nothing is charged. Files may be handled by automated software, including services run by other companies, and we tell you which in writing before any file moves. We work on copies, never on your only original, and we do not send, publish or contact anyone for you.
Email fallback: open your mail app
If website submission is unavailable, review and send the fallback email yourself. An email fallback is not a website receipt. Or write to hello@syntheticindustry.ai with “extract-pdf-price-lists-to-spreadsheet” as the subject.