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Excel XLS to PDF converter

XLS to PDF uses our office engine, so the legacy workbook is rendered as paginated sheets rather than parsed into our table engine.

  • Converted with Office engine · input deleted within 24 h
  • Free: 5 conversions a day · 5 MB each
  • Higher limits →

From real runs

What you get — and what changes

  • Worksheet pages Kept

    The rich XLS exported Pipeline content and the Notes sheet as separate PDF pages.

  • Visible values Kept

    Company names, stages, ARR values, owners, the Total row, and Notes text appeared in PDF text extraction.

  • Formulas Changed

    The formula cell rendered as its calculated value 254500 rather than exposing SUM(C3:C6).

  • Dates Changed

    The XLS PDF showed dates one day earlier in the text probe, for example 10/13/2026 instead of 2026-10-14.

  • Column layout Changed

    Narrow print geometry split close_date onto a later page in the rich XLS PDF output.

  • Editability Lost

    Cells, formulas, filters, and sheet tabs are flattened to PDF content and cannot be edited as workbook features.

  • Fonts Changed

    Calc renders with server fonts, so the PDF may not match a desktop Excel printout exactly.

Sample conversions

Two-sheet financial snapshot

Input
Legacy XLS with Pipeline and Notes sheets, merged Q3 Pipeline heading, date cells, and a SUM total.
Output
PDF included both sheets, but close_date printed on a later page and date text shifted by one day in extraction.

Simple pipeline fixture

Input
XLS fixture with four deal rows and a Notes tab.
Output
The PDF text contained company, stage, arr, owner, close_date and then the note second sheet on a following page.

A real Excel XLS → PDF run

We converted our Excel XLS sample (5 KB) with Office engine on 2026-09-11. It took 379 ms and produced a 18 KB PDF file, 3.9× larger than the input. The engine raised no warnings.

Input · sample.xls · 5 KB

OLE2 compound document (legacy Office binary)

Output · sample.pdf · 18 KB

PDF 1.6, 2 pages, selectable text (LiberationSans), 0 image objects

Version
1.6
Pages
2
Fonts
LiberationSans
Images
0
Text layer
yes

Do it yourself

LibreOffice

bash
soffice --headless --convert-to pdf workbook.xls --outdir .

Set print areas in the workbook first if you need tighter page breaks than Calc's automatic export.

Excel XLS to PDF by API or MCP

The HTTP API and the MCP server run the exact engine this page uses (Office engine); the response carries the same warnings the web converter shows. Check support first with GET /api/v1/pairs?from=xls&to=pdf.

curl
curl -X POST https://filetypeconverters.com/api/v1/convert \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FTC_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@input.xls" -F "from=xls" -F "to=pdf" \
  --output output.pdf
API reference

When this is the wrong conversion

  • Use /convert/xls-to-csv when the target is a data import and only one sheet is needed.
  • Use /convert/xls-to-xlsx when the recipient needs editable workbook rows instead of fixed pages.

Excel XLS to PDF questions

Why did XLS to PDF move a column to another page?

Our office engine applies Calc print layout to the imported workbook. Wide sheets can paginate horizontally unless the source has print areas or scaling set.

Are formulas visible in the PDF?

No. The PDF shows calculated cell values, as with a printed spreadsheet, and does not expose the formula text.

Why did extracted dates look one day early?

Our rich XLS run showed a one-day shift in PDF text extraction for date cells. Product should investigate timezone/date-serial handling on the legacy XLS path.

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