How columns are found
A PDF doesn’t know it contains a table: it only stores pieces of text and where they sit. The tool groups the pieces into lines, splits each line wherever there’s a wide gap, and then looks down the whole page for the vertical bands the cells line up in. Each band becomes a column, so a column of right-aligned amounts stays together even when the numbers have different lengths. Titles and notes that span the page go into the first column they start in.
This works well for PDFs made by a computer with clear columns, such as bank and card statements, invoices, price lists and exported reports. Always check the preview before you rely on the result, and compare a total or two with the PDF.
Real numbers, not text
With “Turn amounts into numbers Excel can add up” ticked, cells like 1,234.50, 1,20,000 (lakh grouping), Rs 750, (500.00), -75, 2,000.00 Dr and 18% become numbers, with brackets, minus signs and Dr treated as negative. They keep a matching format, so they look the same in Excel and SUM works straight away. Things that only look like numbers stay as text: values with leading zeros such as account and phone numbers, numbers longer than 15 digits such as card numbers, and dates.
One sheet or many
“All pages on one sheet” puts every page underneath the previous one with a blank row between, which suits a statement that runs over several pages. “A separate sheet for each page” makes sheets called Page 1, Page 2 and so on. CSV is offered when everything is on one sheet.
What it can’t do
Scanned PDFs hold pictures, not text, so there’s nothing to rebuild; you’d need an OCR app first. Tables drawn with merged or multi-line cells may need some tidying. Your file is opened and processed in your browser, so it is never uploaded to a server. That’s important for statements: your transactions stay on your device. Locked statements can be opened first with Remove PDF Password.