How do I convert a JPG to Excel for free?

Turn the JPG into a PDF with our JPG to PDF tool, then upload that PDF to PDF to Excel and download the spreadsheet. Both tools are free to use. Downloading the files takes a free account.

How do I open a JPG file in Excel?

Excel will place a JPG on a sheet as a picture, but that gives you an image, not cells. To get the numbers into cells you can edit, convert the image to a spreadsheet first.

Can I convert a screenshot of a table to Excel?

Yes. Screenshots are usually PNG files, so start with PNG to PDF instead of JPG to PDF, then run the PDF through PDF to Excel. A sharp, full-size screenshot gives a better result than a photo of a screen.

Will the formatting come across?

Treat the data as the part that matters. Check the styling too: colours, fonts and merged header cells are the things most likely to need tidying by hand.

How to Convert JPG to Excel (Photos, Scans and Screenshots)

Someone sent you a photo of a price list. Or you've got a scan of last year's budget, or a screenshot of a table from a slide. You want it as rows and columns you can sort and add up, not a picture. You can convert JPG to Excel with two of our free tools: JPG to PDF turns the image into a PDF, and PDF to Excel turns that PDF into a spreadsheet, scanned pages included.

Why you can't just open a JPG in Excel

Excel will happily put a JPG on a sheet. It sits there as a picture, though, and every number in it is just pixels. You can't click a cell, sort a column or run a SUM on it.

To get the numbers out, something has to read the text in the image and lay it out in cells. That's the job PDF to Excel does. It takes a PDF rather than an image, which is why there's a quick first step.

Convert JPG to Excel in two steps

Step 1: turn the image into a PDF

Open JPG to PDF.
Drop your image on the box that says Drag & Drop or Choose File to Upload, or click it to pick the file. You can also pull it from Google Drive or Dropbox.
The image opens in our editor as a PDF page. Click Download and choose PDF.

Each conversion takes one image. If a long table is spread across several photos, convert each one, then join the PDFs with Merge PDF before step 2.

Step 2: turn the PDF into a spreadsheet

Open PDF to Excel.
Drop in the PDF from step 1.
When it opens in the editor, click Download and choose Excel. You get an .xlsx file that opens in Excel or Google Sheets.

Both tools are free to use, and downloading the files needs a free account. File size limits and how long we keep your files are on the PDF Tools help page.

Screenshot in PNG? Start with PNG to PDF instead. A photo straight off an iPhone is often HEIC, and HEIC to PDF handles those. Step 2 is the same either way.

Get a cleaner result: tips for the photo or screenshot

The spreadsheet can only be as good as the picture. A few minutes here saves a lot of retyping later.

Shoot straight on. Hold the phone parallel to the page, not at an angle. Tilted rows are harder to read as rows.
Lay the page flat. A curl or a fold bends the lines of the table.
Use even light. No shadow from your hand or your phone across the numbers, and no glare from a lamp on glossy paper.
Crop to the table. Cut away the desk, the coffee mug and the paragraph above it. Less clutter around the table means fewer stray cells.
Screenshot beats photo of a screen. If the table is on your screen, take a screenshot rather than pointing your phone at the monitor.
Use the original file. An image that's been sent through a chat app has often been shrunk and compressed. Ask for the original, or save it full size.
One table per image, when you can. Two tables side by side in one picture can end up tangled together.

Small text needs the most help. If you can barely read the numbers yourself when you zoom in, get a closer, sharper shot before you convert.

Already have it on paper?

Skip the photo and the first step. Scan to PDF scans the page with your phone's camera, straightens it and gives you a PDF, with several pages in one file if the table runs on. On a computer, point your phone at the code on the page and the scan shows up on your computer. Then take that PDF straight to PDF to Excel.

Check the spreadsheet before you trust it

Reading text out of a picture is good, not perfect. A 3 that came out as an 8 looks perfectly normal in a cell, so give the result a proper look before you use it for anything that matters.

What to check first:

Totals. Add a SUM next to any total row or column and compare it with the total from the original. If they don't match, a digit was misread somewhere above it.
Decimal points and commas. A missing decimal point turns 12.50 into 1250.
Dates. Make sure they came through as dates, and that the day and month are the right way round.
IDs and codes. Long account numbers, invoice numbers and codes with leading zeros are worth checking against the original, digit by digit if they matter.
Headers. Header cells that spanned several columns in the original may land in a single cell. Fix those before you sort or filter.
Styling. Colours, fonts and borders are the least important part. Expect to tidy some of it by hand.

For a big table, compare a few random rows against the original as well as the totals. If one area is full of mistakes, it's usually a blurry or shadowed patch of the photo. Retake that part and convert it again.

Excel's built-in option

Recent versions of Excel can import a table from a picture on their own. If yours has it and you've got one quick table, that's worth a try. The two-step route above works in your browser on any computer, with image files you already have.