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Extract table data from PDF

Is there any consistent way to extract tables from PDF files?

What I have done so far:

  • I have tried out pdftotext tool. It has an option to convert to HTML layout.

What is the problem with this:

  • The table information is not preserved in HTML output
  • I expected <table> tags, but everything was under <p> tags.

Will there be any markers in a PDF document to indicate table structures? Like <table>, <tr> and <td> in HTML?

If "yes", any pointers to this would be helpful. If "no", a definite info about this fact is also helpful.

Solution

  • If the PDF document misses information that marks content as table, row, cell, etc. (known as tags), then there is no consistent way to extract tables from the PDF document. Mostly, PDF documents do not contain these tags. These tags typically serve to make a PDF accessible so that it can for example be read aloud. These tags are not required for a PDF to be valid.