---
name: reliable-pdf-extraction-ac5f89-c0b0a2227ffd
description: Extract PDF text content using shell tools or Python libraries when read_file PDF handler fails
---

# Reliable PDF Text Extraction

## Problem

The `read_file` tool with `filetype='pdf'` can be unreliable for PDF text extraction. It may:
- Return binary image data instead of text
- Fail with errors on certain PDF structures
- Lose formatting or structured content

## Solution

Use `run_shell` with dedicated PDF extraction tools instead of relying on `read_file` for PDFs.

## Methods

### Method 1: pdftotext (Recommended)

```bash
pdftotext input.pdf output.txt
```

Or to extract to stdout:
```bash
pdftotext input.pdf -
```

With layout preservation:
```bash
pdftotext -layout input.pdf output.txt
```

### Method 2: pdfinfo (Metadata)

```bash
pdfinfo input.pdf
```

Useful for checking page count, dimensions, and PDF properties before extraction.

### Method 3: Python with PyMuPDF (fitz)

```python
import fitz  # PyMuPDF

doc = fitz.open("input.pdf")
text = ""
for page in doc:
    text += page.get_text()
doc.close()
```

### Method 4: Python with pdfplumber (Tables)

```python
import pdfplumber

with pdfplumber.open("input.pdf") as pdf:
    for page in pdf.pages:
        text = page.extract_text()
        tables = page.extract_tables()
```

## Workflow

1. **Check PDF exists and is readable:**
   ```bash
   pdfinfo input.pdf 2>/dev/null || echo "PDF not accessible"
   ```

2. **Extract text using pdftotext:**
   ```bash
   pdftotext -layout input.pdf - > extracted_text.txt
   ```

3. **If pdftotext fails, try Python fallback:**
   ```python
   import fitz
   doc = fitz.open("input.pdf")
   for i, page in enumerate(doc):
       print(f"--- Page {i+1} ---")
       print(page.get_text())
   doc.close()
   ```

4. **Verify extraction succeeded:**
   - Check output is non-empty
   - Verify text is readable (not binary/garbled)
   - Confirm expected content is present

## When to Use

| Tool | Best For |
|------|----------|
| `pdftotext` | Fast, simple text extraction |
| `pdftotext -layout` | Preserving spacing/formatting |
| `PyMuPDF` | Complex PDFs, programmatic access |
| `pdfplumber` | Tables and structured data |

## Example Integration

```bash
# In your agent workflow, prefer this pattern:
result = run_shell(command="pdftotext document.pdf -", timeout=30)
if result.stdout and len(result.stdout.strip()) > 0:
    content = result.stdout
else:
    # Fallback to Python
    content = execute_python_to_extract_pdf("document.pdf")
```

## Notes

- Install tools if needed: `apt-get install poppler-utils` (for pdftotext/pdfinfo)
- Python libraries: `pip install pymupdf pdfplumber`
- Some PDFs are image-scanned and require OCR (Tesseract) instead
- Always validate extracted content before proceeding with downstream tasks

---
Source attribution: AG064
Original project: https://github.com/AG064/OpenSpace/blob/ff671ef61ed6587c49bd54c81cdc751c0b99e363/gdpval_bench/skills/reliable-pdf-extraction-ac5f89/SKILL.md
License: MIT
License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit
Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Mega AI Hub.

## Upstream license notice

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2026 ✨Data Intelligence Lab@HKU✨

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.



# Mega AI Hub resource metadata

Creator / publisher: AG064
Original project: https://github.com/AG064/OpenSpace/blob/ff671ef61ed6587c49bd54c81cdc751c0b99e363/gdpval_bench/skills/reliable-pdf-extraction-ac5f89/SKILL.md
Attribution basis: Source repository record

Fields of work: Data & Analytics, Development & Engineering
Roles: Backend Developer, Data Analyst, ML / AI Engineer
Specialties: API, Backend
Tools: Pdfplumber, Pdftotext, Pymupdf
Country applicability: Country not specified
Classification basis: Source catalog labels
Instruction SHA-256: 41caf878677e1fcb8eaf60dbc0269c3b9baea02fc74c40785c56ac560f428739