I know there is no direct way to do this, but I have found that with creative thought with existing tools, you can often accomplish things that are thought to be not possible. My basic task is to take a pdf file, and take an OCR scan from page 1, and dump it into a text variable for further parsing. These are somethings I know how to do.
1. Take a PDF file, drop it into a powerapp
2. View the PDF file via PDF viewer (experimental)
So, now that I can do this, then it is unknown territory. I feel like there could be a way to convert page 1 into a image file, or perhaps have powerapps open a screen, open the pdf file, and the default location for viewing is always page 1. Seems there might be a way to capture that into an image file, and then take that into an OCR function.
Thought there could be a way in flow to do this too, but I do not want to have to purchase a subscription for some 3rd party action. I cant add a forever cost to do just this one thing.
I have not done OCR at all before, but I know this is part of the Ai tools. I dont think that is free either. So someone with some experience with this might be able to give me some practical info. If it adds too much cost, I will bail on the idea. However, I want to exhaust creative methods first!
