Extract Data from Word Table to Excel

Why Word Tables Are Tricky

Word tables are often used for forms, registrations, and surveys. But unlike Excel, they are designed for layout, not structured data. That’s why exporting them is painful: merged cells, blank rows, and inconsistent headers often break formatting.

If you work with dozens of Word files, manual copy-pasting isn’t just boring—it’s unsustainable.

Smarter Approaches to Export

• Manual Copy: Works only for one or two small tables. Not practical for bulk work.
• Python Automation: Use python-docx and pandas to extract tables and write to Excel programmatically.
• AI Tools like Chestnuttable: Upload multiple Word docs, extract “field-value” pairs intelligently, and download a clean Excel sheet.

Example with Python

from docx import Document
import pandas as pd

doc = Document("form.docx")
data = []

for table in doc.tables:
    for row in table.rows:
        cells = [c.text.strip() for c in row.cells]
        if cells:
            data.append(cells)

df = pd.DataFrame(data)
df.to_excel("export.xlsx", index=False)

This script loops through Word tables, extracts cell text, and outputs everything to Excel.

Real-World Applications

• Teachers: Merge student registration forms into one Excel list.
• HR Teams: Extract applicant details from resumes for structured analysis.
• Businesses: Standardize client intake forms for CRM integration.
• Data Analysts: Prepare survey data for visualization and modeling.