Found a keyboard shortcut that saved me 5 hours this week on data entry

Honestly, I was stuck copying customer info from PDF invoices into our system, line by line, for like 3 days. Tried using the import tool but it kept breaking on special characters. Then I found out you can use Ctrl+Shift+V to paste unformatted text straight into Excel, and then a quick Text to Columns split fixed everything. Has anyone else had to deal with PDF exports that just mess up your workflow?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_karen12h ago

Totally agree that imported data from PDFs is a nightmare, but here is something else nobody talks about. Before you even paste anything, try using the "Get Data from PDF" feature in newer Excel versions instead of copy-pasting. It pulls the tables out way cleaner than any manual method, and it handles those weird special characters that break the import tool. Just go to Data, then Get Data, then From File, then From PDF. It saved me from having to do Text to Columns entirely on a big client list last week. Plus you can refresh it if the PDF updates, which is a lifesaver if the source files change.

holly_craig10h ago

And the coolest part is it keeps your formatting mostly intact too. I tested it on a messy spreadsheet with merged cells and weird headers and it still pulled the data through cleanly. No more wasting time fixing text that got smashed together or split in weird places. It also lets you pick which pages to pull from so you don't end up with blank rows from cover pages or footers. Honestly once I got used to where the menu buttons were it became my go to method for any PDF report. And if you have a PDF with multiple tables on one page you can pick exactly which one you need instead of getting everything dumped into one sheet.