In Excel: use Data ▸ From Picture in Microsoft 365 — Excel runs OCR on the photo or screenshot and opens a review pane where you correct any cell it is unsure about before inserting.
On this page7
Crop the photo so it contains the table and nothing else — surrounding text is the main source of misreads.
On the Data tab choose From Picture, then Picture From File or Picture From Clipboard.
Wait for the review pane on the right; every uncertain cell is highlighted with the original image snippet beside it.
Click each flagged cell, compare it against the snippet and either accept or retype the value.
Press Insert Data to write the reviewed table into the sheet starting at the active cell.
What this does
Data ▸ From Picture reads a rectangular table out of an image and turns it into real cells. Excel recognises the row and column grid, transcribes each value, and marks every cell whose reading it doubts so a human confirms it before the data lands on the sheet. It is optical character recognition, not a file conversion: nothing about the image is preserved except the numbers and text it could read. Before you run it on a workbook other people depend on, try it on a copy or a few rows first. Undo only reaches back through the current session, so a quick trial run is the cheapest way to see exactly what will change before the file is saved and shared. For “convert image to excel”, the reliable version is a short checking loop, not just the first command that appears to work. Run it on a deliberately small range first, watch how the affected image change, and only then apply the same setup to the full sheet. When this is a ribbon command, the selection matters more than the button: confirm the range, apply the command, then spot-check the output before saving. That is what makes a data step that keeps your analysis trustworthy useful in real work: repeatable, auditable, and not dependent on memory or luck.
A worked example
A printed price list is photographed on a phone. Data ▸ From Picture ▸ Picture From File, pick the photo, and the review pane flags three cells — a 0 read as O and two prices where the decimal comma was ambiguous. Fix those three, click Insert Data, and 48 rows arrive as editable cells. Retyping a table from a photo or a supplier printout is where transcription errors enter a model — and unlike a formula bug, nothing downstream ever flags them. If this is something you do often, add the command to the Quick Access Toolbar (right-click it on the ribbon and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar) or learn its shortcut, so next time it is one click instead of a hunt through the menus.
In Google Sheets
This is a command rather than a formula, so there is no syntax to carry over. Google Sheets arranges its commands in menus across the top instead of a ribbon, names some of them differently and does not have every Excel command — look for the equivalent in the Sheets menus or its help before assuming the steps match. Keep this page bookmarked for the next time the same question comes up. Better still, repeat the steps once in your own workbook — doing it yourself is what turns a copied answer into something you remember. The short version of “convert image to excel”: the answer is at the top of this page, and the sections above explain why each step matters, so a variation of the problem does not stump you. Try it once on a copy of a real file and the steps stick far better than re-reading them.
Common mistakes
- Clicking Insert Data without working through the review pane — the flagged cells are exactly the ones most likely to be wrong.
- Shooting the table at an angle or under uneven light; skewed rows are the usual reason columns come back merged.
- Expecting merged headers, multi-line cells or footnotes to survive: the feature reconstructs a flat grid only.
- Looking for the command in a perpetual-licence version — From Picture ships with Microsoft 365 on Windows and with the Excel mobile apps.
Frequently asked questions
Which Excel versions can convert an image to a table?
Microsoft 365 on Windows has Data ▸ From Picture; the Android and iOS Excel apps have Insert Data From Picture in the ribbon. Excel 2019 and 2021 perpetual builds do not.
How accurate is it?
Clean printed tables usually transcribe with only a handful of flagged cells. Handwriting, faint scans and thousands separators are where it struggles, which is why the review step exists.
Can I convert a scanned PDF the same way?
Not directly. Export the page as an image first, or open the PDF in Word, which runs its own OCR and produces a table you can copy into Excel.
Does the picture stay in the workbook?
No. Only the transcribed values are inserted; the source image is discarded once you press Insert Data.
Other ways people ask this
This is also commonly searched as “image to excel converter”, “convert picture to excel”, “convert photo to excel” and “convert an image to excel”. They describe the identical operation, so you are in the right place no matter how you phrased it.
Platform & version notes
- Some variants pin a specific edition (the web version). The method above is stable across recent Excel releases — older versions only differ in where a ribbon icon sits, not in what the steps achieve.
Does this still work in older versions?
It does. The approach has been stable across recent Excel releases; only the ribbon icons have shifted cosmetically, so the steps above still apply.
Why do people search for this in so many different ways?
Because the same task has many names. “image to excel converter”, “convert picture to excel”, “convert photo to excel” all point at the one operation explained on this page, which is why they all lead here.