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Convert confidential PDF tables to Excel without uploading them
Client ledgers, payroll summaries and patient billing are exactly the documents you should not send to an unknown server. This converter reads the PDF inside your browser tab. Here is how to use it on sensitive files, and how to confirm for yourself that nothing leaves your computer.
Verified sample Steps and sample produced by running this site's converter on a synthetic file.
Check it before you trust it
- Try it on a harmless PDF first. Open the PDF table converter and open your browser's developer tools (F12, or Cmd-Option-I on a Mac). Go to the Network tab and clear it.
- Convert the harmless file and watch. You may see the page load its own PDF-reading code from this site. You should see no request that sends your file: no upload, and no request to any other site.
- Look at the page's security policy. The head of the page source has a Content-Security-Policy that limits connections to this site (
connect-src 'self'). The browser enforces that, so the page cannot send data to any other server. There are no analytics or advertising scripts. - Know what is kept. Your file is held in the tab's memory while you work and is gone when you close the tab. Downloads are created in the browser and saved by it directly. The only thing stored is a count of pages converted today, in your browser's local storage.
The site also runs an automated test every day against the live pages: it converts sample files in a real browser and fails if any request leaves the site or carries file contents. That is evidence about the site as it is now, not a promise about every future version; the privacy page will say so first if anything changes.
Converting the confidential file
- Drop the PDF (or several; tick "Combine all files into one sheet" to stack them). Leave "Skip titles and paragraphs" ticked to drop headings like "CONFIDENTIAL" and footers.
- Read the preview against the PDF. Wrapped text needs your eye in particular. With "table rows only" ticked, a cell that wraps onto a second line is joined back together when that second line sits directly under its row and has nothing else on it. If two cells in the same row wrap, their second lines come out as a row of their own. A single line of text directly under the last row (a note such as "Fees exclude tax") is joined into that row the same way, so check the last row too. The badge says how many characters of titles and notes were left out.
- Download, then close the tab. Save the spreadsheet where the original PDF is kept, under the same access rules.
Sample: a ledger with a wrapped narrative
A synthetic one-page ledger. The second entry's narrative wraps onto a second line, as long descriptions often do.
Before (the text as laid out on the PDF page):
Client billing ledger - CONFIDENTIAL
Synthetic sample generated for testing. Not real data.
Date Client ref Narrative Fee
2026-03-02 C-0193 Initial consultation 450.00
2026-03-09 C-0193 Review of draft agreement and 1,275.00
call with opposing counsel
2026-03-16 C-0207 Filing fee (disbursement) (85.00)
2026-03-23 C-0207 Hearing preparation 2,040.50After, "table rows only" ticked (Excel values; 5 rows, 4 columns):
| Date | Client ref | Narrative | Fee |
| 2026-03-02 | C-0193 | Initial consultation | 450 |
| 2026-03-09 | C-0193 | Review of draft agreement and call with opposing counsel | 1275 |
| 2026-03-16 | C-0207 | Filing fee (disbursement) | -85 |
| 2026-03-23 | C-0207 | Hearing preparation | 2040.5 |
The wrapped narrative is back in one cell: "call with opposing counsel" sat on its own line directly under the 9 March entry, so it was joined to that entry's Narrative cell. The fees are real numbers in the Excel file, with "(85.00)" read as −85. The card reads "all text placed · 79 characters of titles/notes left out": the title and the synthetic-data note.
After, "table rows only" unticked (CSV text; 8 rows):
| Client billing ledger - CONFIDENTIAL | |||
| Synthetic sample generated for testing. Not real data. | |||
| Date | Client ref | Narrative | Fee |
| 2026-03-02 | C-0193 | Initial consultation | 450.00 |
| 2026-03-09 | C-0193 | Review of draft agreement and | 1,275.00 |
| call with opposing counsel | |||
| 2026-03-16 | C-0207 | Filing fee (disbursement) | (85.00) |
| 2026-03-23 | C-0207 | Hearing preparation | 2,040.50 |
Unticked, nothing is left out and nothing is joined: the title and note come along as rows 1 and 2, and the continuation line is row 6 on its own. Use this view when you want to see every line of the page, for example to check that a note under the table was not joined into the last row.
Limits
- Scanned PDFs have no text layer and are reported, not converted. OCR is not available yet.
- PDFs that need a password to open have not been tested with this guide. If a file cannot be read, the page says so.
- Always check figures before they go into accounts or a client report.