Pdf Extraction

by claude-office-skills9c4c7d5cd281MIT499 starsListed Oct 8, 2026Updated Oct 8, 2026Repository updated 8 months ago

Extract text, tables, and metadata from PDFs using pdfplumber

Instructions onlyDocuments & Office
AI-generated overview

Extracts text, tables, and metadata from PDF files using the pdfplumber Python library.

What it does
Provides guidance and code patterns for pulling text, tables, and metadata out of PDF documents with pdfplumber. It covers character-level access, word positions, table detection settings, cropping, font filtering, and visual debugging. Outputs include extracted text, table data, and structured records such as invoice fields or resume sections.
When to use it
Use when you need to read or mine content from native-text PDFs, such as financial reports, invoices, or resumes. It suits tasks like converting PDF tables to spreadsheets or locating specific values in a document. It is not intended for scanned or image-only PDFs without prior OCR.
Requirements
Requires the pdfplumber Python package, and optionally Pillow for image debugging and pandas for DataFrame or Excel output. It ships no scripts; it provides instructions and code examples only.

PDF Extraction Skill

Overview

This skill enables precise extraction of text, tables, and metadata from PDF documents using pdfplumber - the go-to library for PDF data extraction. Unlike basic PDF readers, pdfplumber provides detailed character-level positioning, accurate table detection, and visual debugging.

How to Use

  1. Provide the PDF file you want to extract from
  2. Specify what you need: text, tables, images, or metadata
  3. I'll generate pdfplumber code and execute it

Example prompts:

  • "Extract all tables from this financial report"
  • "Get text from pages 5-10 of this document"
  • "Find and extract the invoice total from this PDF"
  • "Convert this PDF table to CSV/Excel"

Domain Knowledge

pdfplumber Fundamentals

python
import pdfplumber
# Open PDFwith pdfplumber.open('document.pdf') as pdf:    # Access pages    first_page = pdf.pages[0]        # Document metadata    print(pdf.metadata)        # Number of pages    print(len(pdf.pages))

PDF Structure

PDF Document├── metadata (title, author, creation date)├── pages[]│   ├── chars (individual characters with position)│   ├── words (grouped characters)│   ├── lines (horizontal/vertical lines)│   ├── rects (rectangles)│   ├── curves (bezier curves)│   └── images (embedded images)└── outline (bookmarks/TOC)

Text Extraction

Basic Text
python
with pdfplumber.open('document.pdf') as pdf:    # Single page    text = pdf.pages[0].extract_text()        # All pages    full_text = ''    for page in pdf.pages:        full_text += page.extract_text() or ''
Advanced Text Options
python
# With layout preservationtext = page.extract_text(    x_tolerance=3,      # Horizontal tolerance for grouping    y_tolerance=3,      # Vertical tolerance    layout=True,        # Preserve layout    x_density=7.25,     # Chars per unit width    y_density=13        # Chars per unit height)
# Extract words with positionswords = page.extract_words(    x_tolerance=3,    y_tolerance=3,    keep_blank_chars=False,    use_text_flow=False)
# Each word includes: text, x0, top, x1, bottom, etc.for word in words:    print(f"{word['text']} at ({word['x0']}, {word['top']})")
Character-Level Access
python
# Get all characterschars = page.chars
for char in chars:    print(f"'{char['text']}' at ({char['x0']}, {char['top']})")    print(f"  Font: {char['fontname']}, Size: {char['size']}")

Table Extraction

Basic Table Extraction
python
with pdfplumber.open('report.pdf') as pdf:    page = pdf.pages[0]        # Extract all tables    tables = page.extract_tables()        for i, table in enumerate(tables):        print(f"Table {i+1}:")        for row in table:            print(row)
Advanced Table Settings
python
# Custom table detectiontable_settings = {    "vertical_strategy": "lines",      # or "text", "explicit"    "horizontal_strategy": "lines",    "explicit_vertical_lines": [],     # Custom line positions    "explicit_horizontal_lines": [],    "snap_tolerance": 3,    "snap_x_tolerance": 3,    "snap_y_tolerance": 3,    "join_tolerance": 3,    "edge_min_length": 3,    "min_words_vertical": 3,    "min_words_horizontal": 1,    "intersection_tolerance": 3,    "text_tolerance": 3,    "text_x_tolerance": 3,    "text_y_tolerance": 3,}
tables = page.extract_tables(table_settings)
Table Finding
python
# Find tables (without extracting)table_finder = page.find_tables()
for table in table_finder:    print(f"Table at: {table.bbox}")  # (x0, top, x1, bottom)        # Extract specific table    data = table.extract()

Visual Debugging

python
# Create visual debug imageim = page.to_image(resolution=150)
# Draw detected objectsim.draw_rects(page.chars)        # Character bounding boxesim.draw_rects(page.words)        # Word bounding boxesim.draw_lines(page.lines)        # Linesim.draw_rects(page.rects)        # Rectangles
# Save debug imageim.save('debug.png')
# Debug tablesim.reset()im.debug_tablefinder()im.save('table_debug.png')

Cropping and Filtering

Crop to Region
python
# Define bounding box (x0, top, x1, bottom)bbox = (0, 0, 300, 200)
# Crop pagecropped = page.crop(bbox)
# Extract from cropped areatext = cropped.extract_text()tables = cropped.extract_tables()
Filter by Position
python
# Filter characters by regiondef within_bbox(obj, bbox):    x0, top, x1, bottom = bbox    return (obj['x0'] >= x0 and obj['x1'] <= x1 and            obj['top'] >= top and obj['bottom'] <= bottom)
bbox = (100, 100, 400, 300)filtered_chars = [c for c in page.chars if within_bbox(c, bbox)]
Filter by Font
python
# Get text by fontdef extract_by_font(page, font_name):    chars = [c for c in page.chars if font_name in c['fontname']]    return ''.join(c['text'] for c in chars)
# Extract bold text (often "Bold" in font name)bold_text = extract_by_font(page, 'Bold')
# Extract by sizelarge_chars = [c for c in page.chars if c['size'] > 14]

Metadata and Structure

python
with pdfplumber.open('document.pdf') as pdf:    # Document metadata    meta = pdf.metadata    print(f"Title: {meta.get('Title')}")    print(f"Author: {meta.get('Author')}")    print(f"Created: {meta.get('CreationDate')}")        # Page info    for i, page in enumerate(pdf.pages):        print(f"Page {i+1}: {page.width} x {page.height}")        print(f"  Rotation: {page.rotation}")

Best Practices

  1. Debug Visually: Use to_image() to understand PDF structure
  2. Tune Table Settings: Adjust tolerances for your specific PDF
  3. Handle Scanned PDFs: Use OCR first (this skill is for native text)
  4. Process Page by Page: For large PDFs, avoid loading all at once
  5. Check for Text: Some PDFs are images - verify text exists

Common Patterns

Extract All Tables to DataFrames

python
import pandas as pd
def pdf_tables_to_dataframes(pdf_path):    """Extract all tables from PDF as pandas DataFrames."""    dfs = []        with pdfplumber.open(pdf_path) as pdf:        for i, page in enumerate(pdf.pages):            tables = page.extract_tables()                        for j, table in enumerate(tables):                if table and len(table) > 1:                    # First row as header                    df = pd.DataFrame(table[1:], columns=table[0])                    df['_page'] = i + 1                    df['_table'] = j + 1                    dfs.append(df)        return dfs

Extract Specific Region

python
def extract_invoice_amount(pdf_path):    """Extract amount from typical invoice layout."""    with pdfplumber.open(pdf_path) as pdf:        page = pdf.pages[0]                # Search for "Total" and get nearby numbers        words = page.extract_words()                for i, word in enumerate(words):            if 'total' in word['text'].lower():                # Look at next few words                for next_word in words[i+1:i+5]:                    text = next_word['text'].replace(',', '').replace('$', '')                    try:                        return float(text)                    except ValueError:                        continue        return None

Multi-column Layout

python
def extract_columns(page, num_columns=2):    """Extract text from multi-column layout."""    width = page.width    col_width = width / num_columns        columns = []    for i in range(num_columns):        x0 = i * col_width        x1 = (i + 1) * col_width                cropped = page.crop((x0, 0, x1, page.height))        columns.append(cropped.extract_text())        return columns

Examples

Example 1: Financial Report Table Extraction

python
import pdfplumberimport pandas as pd
def extract_financial_tables(pdf_path):    """Extract tables from financial report and save to Excel."""        with pdfplumber.open(pdf_path) as pdf:        all_tables = []                for page_num, page in enumerate(pdf.pages):            # Debug: save table visualization            im = page.to_image()            im.debug_tablefinder()            im.save(f'debug_page_{page_num+1}.png')                        # Extract tables            tables = page.extract_tables({                "vertical_strategy": "lines",                "horizontal_strategy": "lines",                "snap_tolerance": 5,            })                        for table in tables:                if table and len(table) > 1:                    # Clean data                    clean_table = []                    for row in table:                        clean_row = [cell.strip() if cell else '' for cell in row]                        clean_table.append(clean_row)                                        df = pd.DataFrame(clean_table[1:], columns=clean_table[0])                    df['Source Page'] = page_num + 1                    all_tables.append(df)                # Save to Excel with multiple sheets        with pd.ExcelWriter('extracted_tables.xlsx') as writer:            for i, df in enumerate(all_tables):                df.to_excel(writer, sheet_name=f'Table_{i+1}', index=False)                return all_tables
tables = extract_financial_tables('annual_report.pdf')print(f"Extracted {len(tables)} tables")

Example 2: Invoice Data Extraction

python
import pdfplumberimport refrom datetime import datetime
def extract_invoice_data(pdf_path):    """Extract structured data from invoice PDF."""        data = {        'invoice_number': None,        'date': None,        'total': None,        'line_items': []    }        with pdfplumber.open(pdf_path) as pdf:        page = pdf.pages[0]        text = page.extract_text()                # Extract invoice number        inv_match = re.search(r'Invoice\s*#?\s*:?\s*(\w+)', text, re.IGNORECASE)        if inv_match:            data['invoice_number'] = inv_match.group(1)                # Extract date        date_match = re.search(r'Date\s*:?\s*(\d{1,2}[/-]\d{1,2}[/-]\d{2,4})', text)        if date_match:            data['date'] = date_match.group(1)                # Extract total        total_match = re.search(r'Total\s*:?\s*\$?([\d,]+\.?\d*)', text, re.IGNORECASE)        if total_match:            data['total'] = float(total_match.group(1).replace(',', ''))                # Extract line items from table        tables = page.extract_tables()        for table in tables:            if table and any('description' in str(row).lower() for row in table[:2]):                # Found line items table                for row in table[1:]:  # Skip header                    if row and len(row) >= 3:                        data['line_items'].append({                            'description': row[0],                            'quantity': row[1] if len(row) > 1 else None,                            'amount': row[-1]                        })        return data
invoice = extract_invoice_data('invoice.pdf')print(f"Invoice #{invoice['invoice_number']}")print(f"Total: ${invoice['total']}")

Example 3: Resume/CV Parser

python
import pdfplumber
def parse_resume(pdf_path):    """Extract structured sections from resume."""        with pdfplumber.open(pdf_path) as pdf:        full_text = ''        for page in pdf.pages:            full_text += (page.extract_text() or '') + '\n'                # Common resume sections        sections = {            'contact': '',            'summary': '',            'experience': '',            'education': '',            'skills': ''        }                # Split by common headers        import re        section_patterns = {            'summary': r'(summary|objective|profile)',            'experience': r'(experience|employment|work history)',            'education': r'(education|academic)',            'skills': r'(skills|competencies|technical)'        }                lines = full_text.split('\n')        current_section = 'contact'                for line in lines:            line_lower = line.lower().strip()                        # Check if line is a section header            for section, pattern in section_patterns.items():                if re.match(pattern, line_lower):                    current_section = section                    break                        sections[current_section] += line + '\n'                return sections
resume = parse_resume('resume.pdf')print("Skills:", resume['skills'])

Limitations

  • Cannot extract from scanned/image PDFs (use OCR first)
  • Complex layouts may need manual tuning
  • Some PDF encryption types not supported
  • Embedded fonts may affect text extraction
  • No direct PDF editing capability

Installation

bash
pip install pdfplumber
# For image debugging (optional)pip install Pillow

Resources

Source and attribution

Source:claude-office-skills/skillsinpdf-extractionat commit9c4c7d5

License: MIT

Content belongs to its original authors. SourceWeft indexes it from a public repository.

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