PDF2XL CLI Online Help

Marking the Table Area

After finding the table, the next step in extracting the data from a table is marking the table area.

To mark the table area, do the following:

1. Position your cursor on the top left hand corner of the table.
2. Press the left mouse button and hold it.
3. Drag the cursor to the bottom-right side of the table (if it is not visible than drag to the visible bottom right part of the table).
4. Release the left mouse button

While you were dragging the cursor, an orange¹ box representing the selected area appeared (as shown below). Use this feature to help you correctly define the table area.

Once you released the left mouse-button, PDF2XL CLI creates a table in the area you marked. PDF2XL CLI automatically defines the table columns and displays a preview of the output in the Conversion Preview Area.

Note that if the table has graphic lines separating the columns and/or the rows, PDF2XL CLI will use them when defining columns and rows; otherwise, PDF2XL CLI will attempt to calculate the data from the words on the page. You can use the Table Layout options to change the way calculates the columns and rows, or you can change them yourself using the techniques detailed in Table Layout Editing.

You can use the Escape key on the keyboard will dragging if you wish to stop marking the table without it being created.

Note: Even if the table borders and the table columns aren't defined perfectly, don't be alarmed, we will learn how to change them in the following help topics.
If you wish to delete the table and remark it, you can either clear it using the Delete Selection command from the Selection menu or from the context menu, or clear the whole page layout using the Clear Page Layout command from the Table toolbar, or from the Layout menu.

Continue to changing table area.

1 - Tables are marked in orange by default; a different color will be used if you set it in the Conversion Settings page. Additionally, the color of the marked area can be grey or blue at times (when the marked area isn't converting the whole table).