pdf-to-xlsx

Example

Turn the tables in a report into a workbook, one sheet per page.

Given

• accounts.pdf — a PDF holding a ruled table

From code

            import { loadDocument, runOperation } from '@pagecraft/core';

const accounts = await loadDocument({ bytes, name: 'accounts.pdf' });

const [output] = await runOperation('pdf-to-xlsx', [accounts], {
  numbers: true,
});
          

From a shell

            pagecraft pdf-to-xlsx accounts.pdf
          

What comes back

One workbook.

This example is run by the test suite. If it stopped being true, the build would fail.

Options

What it cannot do

• A PDF does not record what was a table; it records text in places. A table is found by the lines drawn around it, or by its columns lining up, and a table that has neither is read as ordinary text.
• A merged cell is only visible where the file drew the lines: a table nobody ruled reports no merges, because a wide cell and an empty one beside it look exactly alike from the text.
• Only cells that are plainly figures become numbers. A code that happens to be digits stays text, because a spreadsheet that makes 007 into 7 has lost something nobody can get back.
• Nothing but the cells comes across: not the fonts, not the colours, not the widths the table was set to, and no formula, because a PDF holds none.
• One table becomes one sheet. A table split across two pages becomes two sheets, because nothing in the file says the second is a continuation of the first.
• A scanned page holds a picture of a table. Run OCR over it first.