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How to extract purchase order data from PDFs into Excel
Upload PDF purchase orders to Lido's data extractor, choose the columns you want (vendor, PO number, items, quantities, prices, totals), and export every line item to a clean Excel file.
By Nur Islam- 3:54 video
- 7 steps
- 1.7K views
Jump to a step (7)
Procurement and accounts teams often retype each purchase order line by line into a spreadsheet. It is slow, and one wrong quantity or price causes problems down the line.
Lido is a third-party spreadsheet tool with a built-in data extractor. It recognizes that a file is a purchase order and suggests the right columns. You can add your own columns and a short instruction, then process one PO or a whole PDF with several POs at once.
The result is one row per line item with the order details repeated on each row, ready to export to Excel.
What you need
- A Lido account (the video uses a free sign-up)
- Purchase orders as PDF, image or document files
Step by step
0 of 7 done-
01
Create a new Lido file
In Lido, create a new file and rename the spreadsheet (the video uses
PO data). -
02
Open the data extractor
Click the Extract data button, or go to the Tools menu and select Data extractor. Upload a sample purchase order. Lido reads it, recognizes it as a purchase order and creates columns such as item number, description, quantity, unit price, total price and PO number.
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03
Adjust the columns
Add any column you need by typing its name in the column box. The video adds
Vendor. You can also add column headers directly in the spreadsheet, for exampleTotal PO amountandTotal tax, and arrange them in the order you want. Click Extract data again and Lido picks up the updated fields. -
04
Add a custom instruction if needed
In most cases you can leave the extra instructions field alone. The video replaces the default text with one instruction: the total PO amount and total tax are the same for every item in a PO. That repeats the order totals on every line item row.
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05
Extract a single purchase order
Upload the PO and click Extract. After a few moments the rows appear in the spreadsheet in the column layout you set up.
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06
Process several purchase orders at once
Next time, click Extract data, upload several files (or one PDF with several POs inside) and click Process all files. Each item becomes its own row with quantity, unit cost, vendor and the other fields.
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07
Export to Excel
Open the File menu and select Export values to Excel. An Excel file downloads with all the extracted purchase order data.
Tips and common problems
- Lido usually detects the document type and picks sensible columns on its own, so you rarely need to write instructions.
- Use a custom instruction when an order-level value, such as the PO total or tax, should repeat on every line item row.
- Use Process all files for multiple files. Extract handles a single PO.
- Lido accepts PDF, image and document files, and one PDF can contain several purchase orders.
Questions
How do I convert a PDF purchase order to Excel?
Upload it to a data extraction tool such as Lido, pick the columns you need, extract, then use File, Export values to Excel to download the spreadsheet.
Can I extract several purchase orders in one go?
Yes. Upload several files, or one PDF that holds several POs, and click Process all files. Each line item becomes its own row.
Is Lido part of Microsoft 365?
No. Lido is a separate third-party service. The video uses a free sign-up, so check its current plans before you process large volumes.
