This activity will help you familiarize yourself with importing PDFs, provide an introduction to correcting areas, and teach you to export a document as a table.
Step 1: Import PDF Document
- Open ABBYY Finereader (it should be on your desktop, or you can look through the programs on the widow button in the lower left-hand corner)
- Once ABBYY Finereader is open, the next step is to locate the document that you would like to work with. Choose the task from the task manager when you first open up ABBYY.
- HINT: You’re planning on outputting this document into Excel.
- The file name is Activity #1- On-Campus Student Enrollment, which you can download from the Documents box in this LibGuide.
- Once you’ve selected your document the software should import and begin analyzing.
Step 2: Ensure ABBYY is recognizing tables.
Helpful tool and reminder for checking areas:

- Check the areas in the document to ensure that ABBYY Finereader imported the document properly.
- Did ABBYY recognize the information as a table?
- Hint: is the table within a blue box?
- After areas are changed “Read the page” or pages to ensure the program recognizes the change.
- If it did, then the document is likely ready to be saved as an excel document.
Step 3: Output in Excel
- Save the document as an Excel document
- Hint: Saving/converting a document as a different format can be found in the toolbar.
- Hint: You can also change the output with the drop down arrow on the right of the Save icon.

- Open the document in Excel and check your work.