There is no built-in way to do this in Excel, and that is exactly the problem. The user asking this question has identified a real workflow gap, one that forces people to choose between manual rework and expensive, fragile workarounds. They want a spreadsheet that refreshes itself from a PDF automatically, and the honest answer is that traditional tools were not designed for this kind of behavior.
The practical challenge here is not just technical, it is conceptual. Excel treats a PDF as a static import, a one-time snapshot. You can write VBA macros to re-import a file, but that code breaks the moment the PDF's layout changes by a single pixel. Power Query offers some relief, but it still requires you to manually trigger the refresh or schedule it through external automation. The user's request for a fully automatic, self-updating link is reasonable, yet the tools they are using treat it as an edge case. That mismatch between expectation and capability is costing people hours of repetitive work. Every time that PDF is replaced and the data does not update, someone has to stop what they are doing, locate the import wizard, and click through the same steps again. It is a small friction that compounds into real drag on productivity.
This is where the conversation should shift. Instead of asking how to force Excel to behave like a connected system, ask what a connected system looks like. An AI-native spreadsheet does not wait for you to tell it to refresh. It monitors the source file, recognizes the structure of the data inside the PDF, and updates the relevant cells without a single click. It treats a PDF not as a dead format to be parsed, but as a live document whose contents are meant to flow into your analysis. The user's question reveals a deeper need: they do not want to become an expert in PDF parsing or macro scripting. They want to focus on what the data tells them, not on how to get the data into the spreadsheet.
The solution is not a better workaround inside Excel. It is a different foundation. When your spreadsheet understands that a PDF is just another data source, one that changes predictably and should be treated accordingly, the question of how to link them disappears. The link is already there, built into the tool's understanding of how you work. So the takeaway is plain: if you are spending time figuring out how to automate a manual import, you are not the problem. The tool is. Stop trying to fix it. Start using something that already knows what you need.