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Problem with Extract text from pdf function.

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Posted on by KaiHalpin

Hi, currently I am trying to extract some text from a pdf file and put this data into an excel sheet. My program works fine, until a larger file appears. Although it is in the same format as my other files that I am reading, the extract text function only picks up data from the second page. This is a major problem because I need data from both the first and second pages (2 page document). As a result, I receive a error message stating that the desired variable is not found, due to it only extracting half of the data from the pdf. I am unsure what to do.

My code is very similar to the code in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW2D853JqQg.

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Power Automate Desktop

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Anil_g 668 Moderator on at

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@KaiHalpin

Did you happen to select all pages in extract text activity?

cheers

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MichaelAnnis 5,727 Moderator on at

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Is it possible that page 1 is a table, and not text?

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KaiHalpin 19 on at

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Yes, but it still doesn't read the first page

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KaiHalpin 19 on at

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No, it is text I verified. If I wear to extract a table into excel how would I do that.

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MichaelAnnis 5,727 Moderator on at

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there is an extract table(s) from PDF action; this will extract all tables from the PDF into a single list, with each item in the list being a separate datatable variable. DataTables variables can be written to Excel if need be.

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Deenuji_Loganathan_ 6,255 Moderator on at

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@KaiHalpin

If possible, please share a screenshot of your PDF after concealing all sensitive information, and also share how you've designed your Power Automate desktop. This will enable us to provide you with more in-depth assistance.

Temporary Workaround Steps:

1. If you are attempting to extract a table from a PDF file using the 'Extract table from PDF' action, ensure that your PDF table is in a valid format. If the table format is valid, the 'Extract table from PDF' action should, by default, extract the table from your PDF and store it in a datatable variable.

2. If the 'Extract table from PDF' action fails to extract the table from the PDF, it may be due to the table's format. In such cases, consider using the 'Extract text from PDF' action to see if it retrieves the data from your PDF file. The main challenge here is that it will return the data in a standard string format, not as a datatable. You can employ some regex to format it into a datatable.

Thanks,
Deenuji Loganathan 👩‍💻
Automation Evangelist 🤖
Follow me on LinkedIn 👥

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