PDF Processing Skill

Overview

This skill provides comprehensive PDF processing capabilities leveraging Claude's native PDF support, which can:

Extract and parse text content
Identify and extract tables with structure preservation
Analyze charts, graphs, and visual elements
Understand document layout and formatting
Generate summaries and insights
Convert PDFs to various formats (Markdown, JSON, CSV, plain text)

When to Use

Claude should automatically activate this skill when:

User provides a PDF file path or wants to process a PDF
User asks to extract text, tables, or data from PDFs
User requests PDF analysis, summarization, or conversion
User needs to understand charts, diagrams, or visual content in PDFs
User wants to transform PDF content to another format

Key Capabilities

1. Text Extraction

Full document text extraction with formatting preservation
Page-by-page text extraction
Section and paragraph identification
Header and footer detection

2. Table Extraction

Automatic table detection and extraction
Structure-preserving conversion to CSV, JSON, or Markdown
Multi-page table handling
Cell merging and complex table support

3. Visual Content Analysis

Chart and graph interpretation
Diagram and flowchart understanding
Image and figure description
Infographic analysis

4. Document Understanding

Layout analysis and structure detection
Multi-column text handling
Form field identification
Metadata extraction (title, author, creation date, page count)

5. Format Conversion

PDF to Markdown (preserving headings, lists, tables)
PDF to JSON (structured data extraction)
PDF to CSV (table extraction)
PDF to plain text

Instructions

Step 1: Validate PDF Input

First, determine how the PDF is provided:

Option A: File Path

# Verify the file exists and is a PDF
ls -lh /path/to/document.pdf
file /path/to/document.pdf

Option B: Base64-Encoded PDF If the user provides base64-encoded content, save it first:

# Decode and save base64 PDF
python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/decode_pdf.py --input base64_string.txt --output document.pdf

Option C: URL If the user provides a URL, download it:

# Download PDF from URL
python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/download_pdf.py --url "https://example.com/doc.pdf" --output document.pdf

Step 2: Read and Analyze PDF

Use the Read tool to access PDF files. Claude's native PDF support will:

Display the PDF content visually
Extract text and structure automatically
Identify tables, charts, and images

# Example: Read PDF using the Read tool
# The Read tool handles PDFs natively and extracts text + visual content
Read(file_path="/absolute/path/to/document.pdf")

Step 3: Process Based on User Request

A. Text Extraction

For simple text extraction:

python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/extract_text.py \
  --input document.pdf \
  --output document.txt \
  --preserve-formatting true

For page-specific extraction:

python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/extract_text.py \
  --input document.pdf \
  --pages 1,3,5-10 \
  --output selected_pages.txt

B. Table Extraction

Extract all tables to CSV:

python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/extract_tables.py \
  --input document.pdf \
  --format csv \
  --output-dir ./extracted_tables/

Extract tables to JSON with structure:

python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/extract_tables.py \
  --input document.pdf \
  --format json \
  --output tables.json

C. Document Summarization

Generate a summary of the PDF:

python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/summarize_pdf.py \
  --input document.pdf \
  --output summary.md \
  --style concise  # Options: concise, detailed, executive

D. Format Conversion

Convert PDF to Markdown:

python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/convert_pdf.py \
  --input document.pdf \
  --output document.md \
  --format markdown \
  --preserve-images true

Convert PDF to structured JSON:

python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/convert_pdf.py \
  --input document.pdf \
  --output document.json \
  --format json \
  --extract-metadata true

E. Visual Content Analysis

Analyze charts and graphs:

python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/analyze_visuals.py \
  --input document.pdf \
  --output analysis.json \
  --elements charts,graphs,diagrams

Step 4: Post-Processing and Output

After extraction/conversion:

Validate Output: Check that the output file was created successfully

ls -lh output_file.{txt,md,json,csv}

Preview Results: Show the user a preview of the extracted content

head -n 20 output_file.txt  # For text files
cat output_file.json | python -m json.tool | head -n 50  # For JSON

Provide Summary: Summarize what was extracted and offer next steps

Step 5: Handle Edge Cases

Password-Protected PDFs

python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/extract_text.py \
  --input document.pdf \
  --password "user_provided_password" \
  --output document.txt

Scanned PDFs (OCR Required)

# Use OCR for scanned PDFs
python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/ocr_pdf.py \
  --input scanned_document.pdf \
  --output document.txt \
  --language eng  # Language code: eng, fra, deu, etc.

Large PDFs (Memory Optimization)

# Process large PDFs in chunks
python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/extract_text.py \
  --input large_document.pdf \
  --output document.txt \
  --chunk-size 10  # Process 10 pages at a time

Error Handling

Common Issues

File Not Found
- Verify the path with ls or Glob
- Check for typos in the filename
- Ensure absolute paths are used
Corrupted PDF
- Try reading with the Read tool first
- Use repair mode: python scripts/repair_pdf.py --input corrupted.pdf --output repaired.pdf
Unsupported PDF Features
- Some PDFs with complex DRM or encryption may fail
- Inform the user and suggest alternatives
OCR Failures
- Check if tesseract is installed: which tesseract
- Verify image quality is sufficient
- Try different language settings

Best Practices

Always use the Read tool first - This leverages Claude's native PDF support for best results
Preserve structure - When extracting tables or converting formats, maintain the original structure
Validate outputs - Always check that output files were created successfully
Provide context - Tell the user what was extracted and what they can do next
Handle errors gracefully - If processing fails, explain why and suggest alternatives
Respect privacy - Remind users not to upload sensitive documents without proper authorization

Output Formats

Text Output

Plain text with optional formatting preservation
Line breaks and paragraphs maintained
Special characters preserved

Markdown Output

# Document Title

## Section Heading

Paragraph text with **bold** and *italic* formatting.

| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Data 1   | Data 2   | Data 3   |

![Chart Description](chart_extracted.png)

JSON Output

{
  "metadata": {
    "title": "Document Title",
    "author": "Author Name",
    "pages": 42,
    "creation_date": "2024-01-15"
  },
  "content": [
    {
      "page": 1,
      "type": "text",
      "content": "Page 1 text content..."
    },
    {
      "page": 2,
      "type": "table",
      "headers": ["Col1", "Col2", "Col3"],
      "rows": [["A", "B", "C"], ["D", "E", "F"]]
    }
  ]
}

CSV Output (for tables)

Column1,Column2,Column3
Value1,Value2,Value3
Value4,Value5,Value6

Advanced Features

Batch Processing

# Process multiple PDFs
python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/batch_process.py \
  --input-dir ./pdfs/ \
  --output-dir ./extracted/ \
  --format markdown

Custom Templates

# Use custom conversion templates
python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/convert_pdf.py \
  --input document.pdf \
  --output document.md \
  --template .claude/skills/pdf-processing/assets/custom_template.md

Selective Extraction

# Extract only specific sections
python .claude/skills/pdf-processing/scripts/extract_sections.py \
  --input document.pdf \
  --sections "Introduction,Methods,Results" \
  --output extracted_sections.md

Integration with Other Tools

This skill works well with:

Data analysis tools - Extract tables and feed to pandas/numpy
Documentation generators - Convert PDFs to Markdown for wikis
Search systems - Extract text for indexing
Automation workflows - Batch process invoices, reports, forms

Examples

Example 1: Extract and Summarize

# User: "Please extract the key points from this research paper"
1. Read(file_path="/path/to/paper.pdf")
2. python scripts/summarize_pdf.py --input paper.pdf --output summary.md --style executive
3. Show the user the summary with key findings highlighted

Example 2: Extract Tables to CSV

# User: "Get all tables from this financial report"
1. Read(file_path="/path/to/report.pdf")
2. python scripts/extract_tables.py --input report.pdf --format csv --output-dir ./tables/
3. List the extracted CSV files and preview the first table

Example 3: Convert to Markdown

# User: "Convert this PDF to markdown"
1. Read(file_path="/path/to/document.pdf")
2. python scripts/convert_pdf.py --input document.pdf --output document.md --format markdown
3. Show preview of the markdown and confirm successful conversion

Dependencies

The scripts in this skill require:

Python 3.8+
PyPDF2 or pypdf (PDF parsing)
pdfplumber (table extraction)
pdf2image (image extraction)
pytesseract (OCR for scanned PDFs)
Pillow (image processing)
requests (URL downloads)

These are installed via the requirements file in assets/requirements.txt.

References

See the references/ directory for:

pdf_capabilities.md - Detailed breakdown of Claude's PDF support
api_reference.md - Complete API documentation for all scripts
examples.md - More usage examples and use cases
troubleshooting.md - Common issues and solutions

Notes for Claude

Always read PDFs with the Read tool first - This is the most reliable method
After reading, analyze what the user needs - Text, tables, summary, conversion?
Use the appropriate script - Don't try to do everything manually
Validate outputs - Always check that files were created successfully
Provide helpful context - Explain what was extracted and suggest next steps
Handle errors gracefully - If something fails, explain why and offer alternatives
Be efficient - Use batch processing for multiple PDFs
Preserve structure - Maintain document formatting when converting

Version History

1.0.0 (2025-11-18) - Initial release with core PDF processing capabilities