Extract PDF Tables in Python

In this article, you will learn how to extract tables from PDF files using Python. PDF is a popular format for sharing data, however, extracting tables from a PDF can be a challenging task. There are several Python libraries available that can help us with this task. Still, accurate extraction of data could be lacking.

So let’s find out how to extract tabular data from PDF with high accuracy within a few lines of code. By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to extract tables from PDF files using Python and manipulate them as needed.

Python Library to Extract Tables from PDF

To extract data from the tables in PDF files, we will use Aspose.PDF for Python. It is a powerful Python library with a bunch of features for PDF processing and manipulation. You can install Aspose.PDF for Python using the following pip command.

pip install aspose-pdf

Extract a Table from PDF in Python

The following are the steps to extract data from tables in a PDF using Python.

  • Load the PDF file using the Document class.
  • Get reference of the page in PDF where table is located.
  • Initialize the TableAbsorber object and visit the selected page using TableAbsorber.visit(Page) method.
  • In a loop, iterate through the list of the tables in TableAbsorber.table_list collection.
  • For each table, iterate through the collection of rows in AbsorbedTable.row_list.
  • For each absorbed row, iterate through the collection of cells in AbsorbedRow.cell_list.
  • Finally, loop through the text_fragments collection of each absorbed cell and print the text.

The following code sample shows how to extract text from PDF table in Python.

Online Tool to Extract PDF Tables

You can also try our free online tool, PDF table extractor, to extract tables from PDF files, which is based on Aspose.PDF for Python.

Use Python PDF Library for Free

You can get a free temporary license and extract data from tables in PDF files without any limitations.

Explore Python PDF Library

You can explore more about the Python PDF library using the documentation. Also, you can post your queries on our forum.

Conclusion

In this article, you have learned how to extract data from tables in a PDF using Python. You can use the same code with small modifications to extract tables from all the pages in a PDF. Similarly, you can extract data from all tables or a particular table on a page. Simply install Aspose.PDF for Python in your application and experience a fast and easy way of extracting tabular data from PDF files.

See Also