The bank only gives me a PDF export of my statement, but I need to convert this PDF into CSV file for an import to QuickBooks. What’s the best way to convert PDF to CSV safely and quickly? ----A question from Quora platform
CSV, short for “comma-separated values”, is a common file format that stores tabular data in plain text, widely supported by accounting applications such as QuickBooks. While, PDF is designed to contain text, images, data and many other elements, more pervasive in viewing and sharing.
Pursuing an accurate conversion from PDF to CSV is indeed a tricky thing, since the graphics and odd characters in the PDF may export errors. Under this circumstance, it is strongly necessary to ask professional converters for help. Fortunately, this post has collected a list of tools to convert PDF to CSV with ease, some even work well on scanned PDF files.
Cisdem PDF Converter OCR
Free Download macOS 10.14 or later 
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
As the beginning mentioned, CSV and PDF are two popular file formats that are applied in different scenarios. The former is friendly to many database programs and brings huge convenience to analyze amounts of data. Through converting PDF bank statement to CSV, you can easily extract data from PDF and import it into various software for further manipulation, like Microsoft Excel, QuickBooks, etc.
To tell you the truth, I have been dealing with PDF files for my whole career life, but I haven’t come across any standalone software designed to convert PDF to CSV directly. So, I did a study these days, but found only one PDF to CSV converter software---Bank2CSV.
But I don't recommend paying for such a tool, which is mainly aimed to convert your bank files to Excel or CSV with a lifetime price $199.99. A PDF to Excel converter with lower price but with extended features can perform such a conversion too, because we can save an Excel file as CSV easily.
Cisdem PDF Converter OCR, is an all-round PDF Converter, integrating the capabilities to convert, create PDF files on Mac and Windows. As for its conversion feature, it allows users to convert any types of PDF, native, scanned or protected and images to 10+ formats, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Text, HTML, ePub, etc., retaining original file layout and formatting.
Main Features of Cisdem PDF Converter OCR
Free Download macOS 10.14 or later Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7 
Tips: For users who want to convert scanned PDF or images to CSV, Cisdem PDF Converter can auto perform OCR on your file and save as editable Excel format, so you can convert Excel to CSV easily. Bear in mind that you require to download the OCR module for the first use.
For Mac users, there is a free solution to convert PDF to CSV on Mac, using Preview. Preview is a macOS application to open, edit and convert PDFs. You can open a PDF bank statement in Preview, then copy and paste the tables or data to a CSV document.
Disadvantages:
Like any one of you who want to convert PDF to CSV online free, we searched in Google and tested all the top-ranked online free PDF to CSV converters. As a result, we put together the following list of the best ones that meet our standards. But bear in mind, none of online free PDF to CSV converters can keep the original formatting. Most of them are totally messed up, even the following ones just scrape through our tests.
It is powerful and surprisingly simple to use, offering a huge choice of export formats. When uploading a PDF, you can convert the file to document, image, ebook, cad, audio and web format, including CSV. If you convert a large file, you can submit your email address to get a notification when done.
Convertio helps users to perform effortless conversions. It can alter a vast collection of files into compatible formats that work on different systems, including documents, videos, audios, font, archive, etc.
Another online platform allowing users to convert PDF files to CSV is ASPOSE, it offers users a lot of file format options from PDF converters to video converters. You can access all from the Products menu at the top of the page, to export PDF to CSV, you can select Conversion feature from ASPOSE. PDF.
If you have installed Adobe, you can absolutely export PDF as Excel spreadsheet first, then save the file in CSV format, like any other PDF to CSV converters. Adobe Acrobat is both available on Mac and Windows platform.
| Tools | Cisdem PDF Converter OCR | Preview | Zamzar | Convertio | ASPOSE | Adobe Acrobat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compatibility | Mac and Windows | Mac | Online | Online | Online | Mac and Windows |
| Cost |
$39.99/yr $59.99/life |
Free | Free | Free | Free |
$29.96/mo $238.75/yr |
| Batch Convert | √ | × | √ | √ (<25 files) | √ | × |
| OCR | √ | √ | × | × | × | √ |
| Conversion Speed | Very Fast | Extremely Slow | Slow | Very Slow | Slow | Fast |
| Conversion Result | High Accuracy | Low Accuracy | Low Accuracy | Low Accuracy | Low Accuracy | High Accuracy |
| Processing Limits | × | × |
2 files/day; File up to 2 MB |
File up to 100MB | 2 tasks/day | × |
| PDF Creation | √ | Only Image to PDF | √ | √ | × | √ |
No matter you are going to use a free or paid PDF to CSV converter, the one finally brings you good results is the good one. But according to my personal experience and feedback from other users, a professional PDF to CSV converter can obtain better results and make the job easier. Have a try, before any commercial decision you will have to make.
Carolyn has always been passionate about reading and writing, so she joined Cisdem as an editor as soon as she graduated from university. She focuses on writing how-to articles about PDF editing and conversion.
John Winn
You told the truth, it is hard to find a tool export PDF as CSV directly, Excel is the best intermediary format for the conversion. By the way, I won't spend that much money on Acrobat.