Getting To Know Every Detail About PDF Parsing

Getting To Know Every Detail About PDF Parsing

(Last Updated On: May 11, 2022)

PDF is the most widely used and accepted file format in the world today. The fact that formatting done in a PDF file does not change even after sharing multiple times is one of the biggest plus points of using PDF documents. However, many regular users are frequently complaining about the difficulties faced during editing these documents. These limitations usually arise because of the limited capabilities of most PDF viewers that people commonly use. Therefore if you want to extract data from a PDF file, you will require a special working tool for the same.

PDF parser is a new concept that allows users to get hold of data from a PDF file and edit it with ease. In this article, let us learn what exactly is PDF parsing, and how can it be implemented with various applications.

Data parsing is referred to as the process where an application goes around identifying different characters in a document and then facilitating the extraction of the same information. The application that is used for this purpose is known as a data parser. When the same process is done for a PDF file, the process comes to be known as PDF parsing and the application is called a PDF parser.

Whenever there is a need to extract data from a non-editable file format like a PDF, using an extraction tool becomes extremely necessary. A PDF Parser is basically the application that allows users to automatically extract images, text, characters, etc. from a PDF file and get it available in a machine-usable form directly. This completely does away with the need of manually noting down and entering data from a PDF file just because the file is originally not editable. The use of PDF parsing allows businesses to save big on time, money, and effort. It is the reason why PDF parser has become an indispensable part of the work culture.

What All Data Can A PDF Parser Extract?

A PDF parser has to scan all fundamental blocks of a PDF document and should be able to extract the following information from it :

Simple Text

The most basic form of data extraction is the parsing of simple text from the PDF document. However, just extracting text by a mere copy and paste mechanism is not enough here. The problem arises when you paste the text to some other place where the entire formatting of the original document gets disturbed. A PDF parser is a must-have in these situations because it helps you extract data in the original format and does not let the data lose this formatting.

Tables

Advanced PDF parsers are also capable of extracting data from tables. Again, the utility of a PDF parser for this task comes in, when you notice that the entire table gets copied as it is without any disturbances in the original format.

Images

Extracting images is usually very difficult, especially from files like PDF files. A PDF parser is very much capable of extracting individual images. After extraction, each individual image can then be recreated and used to make a new document. Also, data from images can also be extracted directly using a PDF parser, provided that the file format is compatible.

How to Parse PDF File in Python

To learn how to parse a PDF in python, users have to have access to one of the following libraries:

PDFQuery: A very popular python wrapper that is used around PyQuery, PDFMiner, and Ixml. A library specifically meant for PDF scrapping it is hailed by many as a fast and user-friendly source.

PDFMiner: The PDF Miner is an open-source tool for extracting text from a PDF. It is used for data analysis besides of course being a PDF Parser.

Slate: Another package wrapped around PDF Miner, Slate is a good tool for extraction of text from PDF.

PDF Parser Windows and Java:For the loading and parsing of PDF documents in Windows and Java, you can find several free resources online. IronPDF is a pdf parser free for Windows. Similarly, ParseContext is a good java pdf parser example.

KlearStack For PDF Parsing

KlearStack is considered one of the best companies in the PDF parser applications domain. KlearStack has developed a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence-based OCR software that not only helps in extracting data from PDF files but is also compatible with multiple other file formats.

KlearStack OCR does not depend on any specific templates or formats, thereby, allowing it to extract information from files having any format whatsoever. Further, this Optical Character Recognition tool has advanced machine learning models, which helps it to continuously learn and generalize for newer use cases.

So, to enjoy the dynamism and the support of a company that is loved by thousands, contact KlearStack today.

Ashutosh Saitwal
Ashutosh Saitwal
www.klearstack.com/

Ashutosh is the founder and director of the award winning KlearStack AI platform. You can catch him speaking at NASSCOM events around the world where he speaks and is an evangelist for RPA, AI, Machine Learning and Intelligent Document Processing.