Copying PDF tables into word processors and spreadsheets

The Select Table tool makes it a joy to copy tables from PDF files into wordprocessed documents or spreadsheets.
Microsoft Word automatically recognizes and preserves the table structure by creating a new Word table. Even more importantly, Word has maintained the number formatting as well (indicated by the dollar signs, commas, percent signs, and parentheses for the negative values).
You see that Excel also has no problem recognizing and correctly interpreting the layout and formatting of the table data. It immediately inserted the incoming table data into the correct worksheet cells, while maintaining the correct cell formatting. (By the way, in case you aren’t yet an Excel user, if you see #### symbols in the new worksheet, these symbols merely indicate that the column isn’t wide enough to display the values in that cell — these are not error indicators and are easily disposed of by widening the column.)
Acrobat 6 offers an even easier way to get selected table data into a spreadsheet program. (This method assumes that you already have a CSV-compliant spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel installed on your computer.) Select a table in a PDF document with the Select Table tool, right-click to open the context menu, and choose Open Table in Spreadsheet. Your CSV-compliant spreadsheet program (and all of them are these days) opens a document with your table data imported into the spreadsheet. You can then edit and save your table data in that program’s document format.