PDF Extractor
Extract text, tables, and images from PDF files using pdfplumber - turn static PDFs into usable data.
When to Use This Skill
- Report processing - Extract data from PDF reports
- Table extraction - Convert PDF tables to CSV
- Image collection - Pull images from presentations
- Text mining - Bulk convert PDFs to searchable text
- Research - Process academic papers and whitepapers
What Claude Does vs What You Decide
| Claude Does | You Decide |
|---|
| Structures analysis frameworks | Metric definitions |
| Identifies patterns in data | Business interpretation |
| Creates visualization templates | Dashboard design |
| Suggests optimization areas | Action priorities |
| Calculates statistical measures | Decision thresholds |
Dependencies
pip install pdfplumber pypdf click pandas
# For image extraction:
pip install Pillow
Commands
Extract Text
python scripts/main.py text document.pdf
python scripts/main.py text document.pdf --pages 1-5
Extract Tables
python scripts/main.py tables report.pdf --output tables.csv
python scripts/main.py tables financial.pdf --page 3
Extract Images
python scripts/main.py images presentation.pdf --output ./images/
Merge PDFs
python scripts/main.py merge doc1.pdf doc2.pdf --output combined.pdf
PDF Info
python scripts/main.py info document.pdf
Examples
Example 1: Extract Financial Tables
python scripts/main.py tables annual-report.pdf --output financials.csv
# Output: financials.csv with all tables found
# Also creates individual CSVs: table_page3_1.csv, table_page5_1.csv
Example 2: Batch Convert to Text
python scripts/main.py batch ./pdfs/ --output ./text/
# Converts all PDFs in folder to .txt files
Example 3: Extract Specific Pages
python scripts/main.py text whitepaper.pdf --pages 1,5-10,15
# Extracts only pages 1, 5-10, and 15
Skill Boundaries
What This Skill Does Well
- Structuring data analysis
- Identifying patterns and trends
- Creating visualization frameworks
- Calculating statistical measures
What This Skill Cannot Do
- Access your actual data
- Replace statistical expertise
- Make business decisions
- Guarantee prediction accuracy
Related Skills
Skill Metadata
category: automation
subcategory: document-processing
dependencies: [pdfplumber, pypdf, pandas]
difficulty: beginner
time_saved: 4+ hours/week
