Reading PDF file using javascript

Question

I'm currently developing an application that would Copy/Transfer a sentence/paragraph from a PDF file to my program. I'm using Javascript to develop my program but I have not found any idea how to read a PDF file.

I want to know how to Copy/Transfer a sentence/paragraph from a PDF file to my program?

Thanks.

What about github.com/mozilla/pdf.js

elclanrs
– elclanrs

2012-08-22 04:07:06 +00:00
Commented Aug 22, 2012 at 4:07 — elclanrs
– elclanrs, Commented Aug 22, 2012 at 4:07

Adrien Joly · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-13 12:27:46Z

18

I know that the question is old, but if you find PDF.js too complex for the job, npm install pdfreader. (I wrote that module)

It would take 5 lines of code to extract text from your PDF file:

var PdfReader = require("pdfreader").PdfReader;
new PdfReader().parseFileItems("sample.pdf", function(err, item){
  if (item && item.text)
    console.log(item.text);
});

answered Mar 13, 2015 at 12:27

Adrien Joly

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4 Comments

static_null Over a year ago

'It does not work from a web browser.' Guessing this means I couldn't use browserify with it?

Adrien Joly Over a year ago

I don't know, @static_null. Let us know how it goes if you give it a try!

Daj Over a year ago

@AdrienJoly hi do you know where/how I can get the compiled version of pdfreader module? I'm hoping to get one .js file so I could use it as a library. Thank you!

Adrien Joly Over a year ago

@Daj I am not distributing any bundled version of pdfreader. Feel free to use the bundler of your choice (e.g. webpack or other) to achieve that.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:17:58Z

8

Check out PDF.js, it's a commonly used JavaScript library that contains a lot of methods for PDF manipulation.

Check out this answer to see a demonstration of how to extract text using pdf.js.

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:17

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Jan 3, 2015 at 14:40

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