Does Excel for Mac Have Get Data From PDF? What to Do Instead

If you have followed a Windows tutorial that says to choose Data, Get Data, From File, From PDF, you may have reached the end of the menu on your Mac and found no PDF entry. You are not missing a setting. This guide explains what we found about the feature on Mac, how to confirm it on your own copy of Excel, and what to do instead.

Quick answer: On Windows, Excel imports PDF tables through Data > Get Data > From File > From PDF. Microsoft's own community answers say this PDF connector is not available in Excel for Mac, although some third-party pages claim otherwise. Check Data > Get Data > From File on your build. If From PDF is not there, copy the table out of Preview, extract it with Tabula, or use Excel on Windows if you need a refreshable import.

What Get Data From PDF does on Windows

In Excel for Windows with Microsoft 365, Get Data lets you point at a PDF, shows a navigator listing the tables and pages it detected, and lets you load one into the sheet or into Power Query for cleaning. The big advantage is repeatability: if next month's PDF has the same layout, you refresh the query and the data updates. For a report that arrives on a schedule, that is a large saving.

What we found for Mac

We searched for current evidence. Microsoft's community answers, including a late-2023 thread, say the PDF connector is not available for Excel for Mac, and a 2021 moderator reply similarly noted that PDF is not among the data sources supported by Power Query on Mac. One user reported that a Home and Business 2021 licence lacked the option. Against that, a competitor's help page claims that Microsoft 365 added a native PDF connector for Mac. We could not find Microsoft documentation confirming that claim, and the more recent third-party pages we saw also describe Power Query on Mac as more limited than on Windows.

The honest conclusion is that you should not plan a workflow around it. Excel for Mac changes frequently, so check your own copy rather than relying on anyone's summary, including ours.

Check your copy of Excel

1. Open Excel > About Excel and note the version and whether the licence is a Microsoft 365 subscription or a one-off purchase.

2. Update Excel from Help > Check for Updates.

3. Open the Data tab and choose Get Data (the exact wording varies by build), then look under From File.

4. If you see From PDF, you have it. If you only see options such as Text/CSV, the connector is not in your version.

If you cannot find Get Data at all, our guide to where the Data Analysis and Power Query tools are in Excel for Mac explains what the Mac version includes.

What to do instead

Copy from Preview

For a single table in a PDF with selectable text, copying is the fastest route. Our guide to copying a table from a PDF into Excel shows how to select cleanly, and the guide to cleaning PDF data pasted into Excel fixes the text and number problems afterwards.

Tabula

For many tables, or tables without ruling lines, the free, local Tabula tool extracts to CSV, which Excel opens easily. The steps are in our guide to converting a PDF to CSV on a Mac. It does not refresh by itself, but if the layout does not change, you can reuse the same selection box every month.

Data From Picture

If all you have is an image or a screenshot, Excel for Mac has its own tool. See our guide to converting an image to Excel with Data From Picture.

Use Excel on Windows for a refreshable import

If you receive the same PDF layout every week and need the import to refresh, Windows Excel is currently the dependable option. That might be a Windows PC at work, or Windows running on your Mac, a trade-off we cover in Mac Excel Shortcuts vs Parallels vs Boot Camp. Build the query there, save the workbook and open it on your Mac for the rest of your work. Note that Boot Camp is not available on Macs with Apple silicon, so check which kind of Mac you have before planning around it.

Ask for a better source

Many PDF reports are generated from a system that can also export CSV or Excel. A two-line email to the sender asking for the data file often removes the whole problem.

Why Mac Excel differs

Excel for Mac and Excel for Windows share a name and most features, but they are developed separately, and some features arrive on Mac later or not at all. Power Query is the clearest example: the Windows version is mature, while the Mac version has been catching up gradually. When a tutorial describes a feature you cannot find, check whether the author was using Windows. We cover this gap in more general terms in Excel for Mac vs Windows differences.

Common mistakes

• Assuming the missing menu is a bug or a setting you have turned off.

• Trusting a tutorial's screenshots without checking the platform.

• Installing a paid add-in before testing the free methods.

• Uploading a sensitive PDF to a converter because the built-in route looked unavailable.

• Expecting any alternative to refresh automatically.

Frequently asked questions

Is Get Data From PDF available in Excel for Mac?

Microsoft community answers say no. Check Data > Get Data > From File on your own build, because versions change.

Is there a way to refresh a PDF import on Mac?

Not with the built-in tools that we could confirm. A repeatable Tabula selection or a Windows-built Power Query are the practical options.

Will Excel for the web import PDFs?

We did not find confirmation, so check Microsoft's current documentation before relying on it.

Why do some websites say Mac has the feature?

Some third-party pages describe it as available, but we could not verify the claim against Microsoft's own documentation. Test on your own copy.

What is the best free alternative?

Copy from Preview for a single table, and Tabula for many tables. Both keep the file on your Mac.

Related guides

• Where are the Pivot Table, Data Analysis and Power Query tools in Excel for Mac

• Copy a table from a PDF into Excel on Mac

• Convert a PDF to CSV on Mac

• Mac Excel Shortcuts vs Parallels vs Boot Camp