---
name: pdf-processing-d3715a8e0c75
description: Extract text and tables from PDF files, fill forms, merge documents. Use when working with PDF files or when the user mentions PDFs, forms, or document extraction.
---

# PDF Processing

## Quick start

Use pdfplumber to extract text from PDFs:

```python
import pdfplumber

with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf:
    text = pdf.pages[0].extract_text()
    print(text)
```

## Extracting tables

Extract tables from PDFs with automatic detection:

```python
import pdfplumber

with pdfplumber.open("report.pdf") as pdf:
    page = pdf.pages[0]
    tables = page.extract_tables()

    for table in tables:
        for row in table:
            print(row)
```

## Extracting all pages

Process multi-page documents efficiently:

```python
import pdfplumber

with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf:
    full_text = ""
    for page in pdf.pages:
        full_text += page.extract_text() + "\n\n"

    print(full_text)
```

## Form filling

For PDF form filling, see [FORMS.md](FORMS.md) for the complete guide including field analysis and validation.

## Merging PDFs

Combine multiple PDF files:

```python
from pypdf import PdfMerger

merger = PdfMerger()

for pdf in ["file1.pdf", "file2.pdf", "file3.pdf"]:
    merger.append(pdf)

merger.write("merged.pdf")
merger.close()
```

## Splitting PDFs

Extract specific pages or ranges:

```python
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter

reader = PdfReader("input.pdf")
writer = PdfWriter()

# Extract pages 2-5
for page_num in range(1, 5):
    writer.add_page(reader.pages[page_num])

with open("output.pdf", "wb") as output:
    writer.write(output)
```

## Available packages

- **pdfplumber** - Text and table extraction (recommended)
- **pypdf** - PDF manipulation, merging, splitting
- **pdf2image** - Convert PDFs to images (requires poppler)
- **pytesseract** - OCR for scanned PDFs (requires tesseract)

## Common patterns

**Extract and save text:**
```python
import pdfplumber

with pdfplumber.open("input.pdf") as pdf:
    text = "\n\n".join(page.extract_text() for page in pdf.pages)

with open("output.txt", "w") as f:
    f.write(text)
```

**Extract tables to CSV:**
```python
import pdfplumber
import csv

with pdfplumber.open("tables.pdf") as pdf:
    tables = pdf.pages[0].extract_tables()

    with open("output.csv", "w", newline="") as f:
        writer = csv.writer(f)
        for table in tables:
            writer.writerows(table)
```

## Error handling

Handle common PDF issues:

```python
import pdfplumber

try:
    with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf:
        if len(pdf.pages) == 0:
            print("PDF has no pages")
        else:
            text = pdf.pages[0].extract_text()
            if text is None or text.strip() == "":
                print("Page contains no extractable text (might be scanned)")
            else:
                print(text)
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Error processing PDF: {e}")
```

## Performance tips

- Process pages in batches for large PDFs
- Use multiprocessing for multiple files
- Extract only needed pages rather than entire document
- Close PDF objects after use


---
Source attribution: beita6969
Original project: https://github.com/beita6969/ScienceClaw/blob/e925f732c7ca435f557e88075bc47a58f1e984f1/skills/pdf-processing/SKILL.md
License: MIT
License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit
Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Dave AI.

## Upstream license notice

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 Peter Steinberger

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.



# Dave AI resource metadata

Creator / publisher: beita6969
Original project: https://github.com/beita6969/ScienceClaw/blob/e925f732c7ca435f557e88075bc47a58f1e984f1/skills/pdf-processing/SKILL.md
Attribution basis: Source repository record

Fields of work: Content & Media, Data & Analytics, Development & Engineering
Roles: Backend Developer, Data Analyst, Technical Writer
Specialties: API, Backend, Cross Platform
Tools: Pdf2Image, Pdfplumber, Pypdf, Pytesseract
Country applicability: Country not specified
Classification basis: Source catalog labels
Instruction SHA-256: 80adb777fdad4a9e5f55d4ad9a456f53337dc680e1db4a2499ee08cc5f46d3a3