Convert Word to Excel – A Step-By-Step Guide

WORD TO EXCEL

This article is a detailed step-by-step guide to converting or exporting Word to Excel. We will look at different methods to export or convert a Word file to an Excel file in this article. So, read till the end to know multiple ways to convert your files.

Let’s get started!

Also read: How to Convert Excel to PDF?

Steps to export Word to Excel

Let’s get started with exporting an existing Word file on your system to Excel. Note that we’re not converting a Word file to an Excel spreadsheet here. We will discuss converting Word files later in this tutorial.

We already have unstructured data created in MS Word as an example.

Word to Excel

Here are the steps to export an unstructured Word file to Excel.

  • Go to the File tab.
  • Click Save As.
  • Click Browse.
  • Choose Plain Text in the Save As type field.
plain
  • Click OK when the File Conversion window appears.
file conversion

Now, import this text file into Excel.

  • Open a blank Excel workbook or worksheet.
  • Go to the Data tab.
  • Click on From Text/CSV in the Get &Transform Data section.
text csv
  • Choose the saved text file from the file location.
text file
  • Click on the Word file saved as a text file.
  • Click Import.
load page
  • Check if your data is properly formatted. If you’re satisfied with the results click Load.
  • If you’re unsatisfied with the format, like this data above, click Transform Data.
  • Notice that there are two empty columns that we do not need. So, we will click Transform Data to fix this.
powerquery
  • The Power Query editor opens to help you manage the imported data.
  • Right-click on the columns you want to delete.
  • Press Remove.
  • Once you’re done, click Close & Load in the Home tab.
closeload
imported unstructured

You can see that the unstructured data from Word is exported to Excel in a structured format.

Let’s learn how to export structured or tabular data from Word to Excel.

structured word

To convert the data into a table.

  • Select the entire data in Word.
  • Go to the Insert tab.
  • Click on Table.
  • Click Insert Table.
  • Right-click on the columns you want to delete.
  • Press Delete Columns.

Your table is ready. Let’s export it to Excel.

This step is best for you if you don’t have Power Query in Excel.

  • Select the entire data table in Word. CTRL+A to Select All.
  • Copy the table. CTRL+C
  • Paste the table (CTRL+V) in Excel.

Your structured data is successfully exported.

If you’re on an older version of Office like 2007, 2010, 2013, or 2016, then follow these steps.

The initial step to export Word to Excel is the same in the older versions.

  • Save the Word file as a text file.
  • Go to the File tab.
  • Click Save As.
  • Click Browse.
  • Choose Plain Text in the Save As type field.
  • Click OK when the File Conversion window appears.

Now, import this text file into Excel.

  • Open a blank Excel workbook or worksheet.
  • Go to the Data tab.
  • Click on From Text/CSV in the Get &Transform Data section.
  • Choose the saved text file from the file location.
  • Click Open.

The Text Import Wizard opens with a few options.

text import
  • Choose Delimited if you want to separate each field with existing commas, spaces, or tabs.
  • Choose Fixed Width if your fields are aligned properly.
  • Click Next.

You can see your data is separated with lines between them.

  • Double-click on a line to add or remove it.
preview
  • Click Next.
  • Click Finish in the next step.
  • Click on a cell where you wish to export the data.
  • Click OK.
cell location

Your data is exported successfully.

Steps to converting Word to Excel online

You can also convert a Word file to Excel by following the steps below.

  • Go to Online2PDF.
  • Choose the Word file.
  • Choose the Excel version you want to convert.
word
  • Click Convert.

Note that you cannot export to the Excel 365 version here.

Conclusion

This tutorial was a detailed step-by-step guide to converting and exporting Word files to Microsoft Excel. We walked through the different methods of exporting data from Word for both newer and older versions of Excel. Stay tuned for more interesting tutorials like these!

References- Computer Hope