# 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 — what we do not do

This tool runs entirely in the browser via WebAssembly. Your file never reaches a Loft Tools server. Specifically:

- **No upload.** The file bytes load into the browser tab's memory and process on your own CPU. Open DevTools → Network and observe zero outbound requests carrying file data while Extract Tables from PDF runs.
- **No AI training on your file.** Loft does not train models. We could not train on a file we cannot see.
- **No content scanning.** No virus, copyright, or content-moderation pass against your file. The bytes are not accessible to us.
- **No server-side log of file contents, filenames, or EXIF metadata.** Cloudflare edge captures URL and truncated IP for abuse defense (standard CDN behaviour). Cloudflare Web Analytics records anonymous page hits, no cookies, no PII. Nothing about your file content reaches any log.
- **No retention.** Close the tab and the file leaves browser memory. No backups exist on our side because no copy ever existed on our side.
- **No account.** No email, no signup, no auth, no telemetry tied to you.
- **Offline-capable after first visit** (PWA). Once you've loaded a tool, it caches; later sessions work without internet. For high-sensitivity files, run the tool once online to warm the cache, then disconnect before processing.

Compare with upload-based services: each transmits your file to a processing server. Even over HTTPS, each has logs, retention windows, and subpoena exposure. Loft has none of these because the server architecture does not include your file.

## More

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