The latest articles on DEV Community by Chintu Gurbani (@chintugurbani). https://dev.to/chintugurbani https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4192492%2F9e968362-b1ca-4533-a5f3-9b080163ee25.jpg https://dev.to/chintugurbani en Chintu Gurbani Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:09:32 +0000 https://dev.to/chintugurbani/how-to-convert-a-pdf-table-to-latex-booktabs-without-retyping-161a https://dev.to/chintugurbani/how-to-convert-a-pdf-table-to-latex-booktabs-without-retyping-161a <p>You need a results table from a paper in your own LaTeX document. Retyping twelve columns of numbers takes half an hour and invites typos. Here is how to get a clean <code>booktabs</code> table in a few seconds, and how the usual alternatives compare.</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fhl7v6xln0g07yxfps87f.jpg" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fhl7v6xln0g07yxfps87f.jpg" alt="Snipping a table from a PDF into LaTeX" width="800" height="450"></a></p> <h2> The quick way: snip the table </h2> <ol> <li> <strong>Open the PDF in CatchTeX</strong> (Ctrl+O). The built-in viewer matters: CatchTeX reads the characters stored in the PDF instead of guessing them from pixels, so every number is exact.</li> <li> <strong>Drag a box around the table</strong>, including its header rows. Auto mode recognises it as a table.</li> <li> <strong>Check the preview.</strong> The result is compiled with a built-in pdfLaTeX and shown next to the code. Cells it is unsure about are highlighted, so you only check those.</li> <li> <strong>Copy the LaTeX</strong> (Ctrl+Shift+C) and paste it into Overleaf or your editor. Add <code>\usepackage{booktabs}</code> to your preamble once.</li> </ol> <p>Is the table in a slide, web page or scanned page instead? Press Ctrl+Alt+T and snip it from the screen. CatchTeX then uses offline OCR, so proofread the numbers as you would with any OCR.</p> <h2> What comes out </h2> <ul> <li> <code>booktabs</code> rules (<code>\toprule</code>, <code>\midrule</code>, <code>\bottomrule</code>) instead of a grid of <code>\hline</code>s</li> <li>Merged header cells as <code>\multicolumn</code> </li> <li>Maths inside cells (Greek letters, ±, sub- and superscripts) as real LaTeX maths, not Unicode</li> <li>Bold and italic values kept, so the best result stays marked</li> </ul> <h2> Other ways, compared honestly </h2> <div class="table-wrapper-paragraph"><table> <thead> <tr> <th>Method</th> <th>Exact numbers</th> <th>Result</th> <th>Paper stays on your PC</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Retype by hand</td> <td>If you are careful</td> <td>Whatever you write</td> <td>Yes</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Copy-paste from the PDF reader</td> <td>Yes, but columns fall apart</td> <td>A line of text to rebuild</td> <td>Yes</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tabula / Excel → Tables Generator</td> <td>Yes for simple tables</td> <td>Merged headers and maths need fixing</td> <td>Partly</td> </tr> <tr> <td>AI chatbot</td> <td>Not guaranteed: numbers can change silently</td> <td>LaTeX, not compiled or checked</td> <td>No</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Mathpix Snip</td> <td>Good OCR</td> <td>LaTeX table</td> <td>No, cloud</td> </tr> <tr> <td>CatchTeX</td> <td>Yes, read from the PDF itself</td> <td>booktabs, compiled, doubtful cells marked</td> <td>Yes, offline</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div> <h2> Tips for a clean result </h2> <ul> <li>Include the header rows in your selection; leave out the caption if you will write your own.</li> <li>Very wide table? Zoom out so the whole table fits on screen before you snip.</li> <li>Table split across two pages? Snip each part and join the rows.</li> <li>Want <code>siunitx</code> decimal alignment? Change the column spec to <code>S</code> columns after pasting; the numbers are already plain.</li> </ul> <h2> FAQ </h2> <p><strong>Does it work with scanned PDFs?</strong> Yes, through offline OCR. Accuracy then depends on scan quality, so check the numbers.</p> <p><strong>Do I need LaTeX installed?</strong> No. CatchTeX ships its own pdfLaTeX for the preview. The output works in Overleaf, TeX Live and MiKTeX.</p> <p><strong>Is it free?</strong> The free edition has every mode with 10 snips a day. Pro removes the limit with a one-time payment.</p> <p>CatchTeX runs offline on Windows, Mac and Linux, and also converts equations, block diagrams (TikZ), plots (pgfplots) and references (BibTeX). <a href="https://catchtex.com/?utm_source=devto" rel="noopener noreferrer">Download it free at catchtex.com</a>.</p> <p><em>Originally published at <a href="https://catchtex.com/guides/pdf-table-to-latex" rel="noopener noreferrer">catchtex.com/guides/pdf-table-to-latex</a>.</em></p> tutorial productivity writing