Making Excel and pdfs Work Together

When a straightforward Excel workbook—containing one or two substantial data tables—gets exported to PDF format and subsequently re-imported into Excel or accessed through a web browser, it becomes broken down into a workbook containing numerous separate tabs.

During testing, an Excel workbook with two sheets, each holding a table with 300 rows and 29 columns (a moderate size), was converted to PDF by Excel and then imported back. The resulting workbook contained 90 separate tabs—creating a nearly impossible puzzle to navigate.

What causes this problem?

Excel’s PDF export function follows print formatting guidelines, frequently breaking large tables across several pages.

During re-import, each individual page may become interpreted as a distinct tab or image, particularly when the PDF gets processed as a multi-page file instead of one continuous table.

The PDF format converts data into flat visual components; what were once structured cells become mere visual representations without row and column functionality.

The re-import process typically cannot recreate the original table structure, resulting in data misalignment or fragmented tables distributed across multiple tabs.

Working with or modifying the data becomes difficult, particularly when tab names are automatically generated without meaningful descriptions.

The Solution

For Excel workbooks containing numerical or text-based tables, Excelerate® offers a solution to this problem.

First, import your workbook into Excelerate®, then immediately export it as a PDF in a format designed for accurate reconstruction of the original Excel file.

This resulting PDF maintains its standard appearance and supports password protection and standard distribution methods, while containing embedded code that allows Excelerate® to rebuild the original Excel document structure when reopened