Hadar Kadar writes of a program called PDF2XL that converts pdf files of tabular data to Excel files:

PDF2XL is regularly priced at $95, but our initial academic install base (UC Irvine, ASU, WSU and others) and their success, led us to believe strongly in its applicability to any research or academic setting. That is why we are introducing PDF2XL to the academic community by giving a free one-year license of PDF2XL to all academic users for the academic year 2006-2007.

I know nothing about this but am forwarding this in case it might be useful to others. Tian appears to have tried it, and it seems to work.