Guides
Practical how-tos for getting tables, text and data out of PDFs. Each guide is worked through with the tools on this site, and says where the result needs checking.
- Can I convert a password-protected PDF, or one that blocks copying?
What happened when we sent three PDFs to PDF to Text, one needing a password to open, one with copying blocked and one plain, and what the two kinds of PDF password mean.
2026-10-19 - Can I extract text from a scanned PDF in Chinese, Japanese or Korean?
Test pages in Chinese, Japanese and Korean through PDF to Text. Chinese and Japanese came back character for character; Korean was not read, and the result said so.
2026-10-19 - How do I split a PDF into chunks for AI search, and what do I get?
What the chunk file from PDF for AI contains, checked on a real 8-page paper: sizes, section paths, tables, formulas, and where a chunk or its path went wrong.
2026-10-19 - Can the equations in a PDF be converted to LaTeX, and how accurate is it?
What PDF Equations to LaTeX returned for six equations in a real research paper, which ones were wrong, and which wrong ones the tool did and did not warn about.
2026-10-13 - How do I turn a PDF into JSON that a script can read?
What the JSON from PDF to JSON contains, shown on two real test files, with a short script that reads a table and the places where the structure surprised us.
2026-10-13 - Why does text copied from a PDF break at the end of every line?
A PDF stores positioned text, not paragraphs, so a copy keeps every line break. What raw and cleaned text looked like on two test files, and what to check.
2026-10-13 - Can I get the original pictures out of a PDF without losing quality?
Often yes, for pictures stored as images. What came back when we extracted a JPEG, a PNG with transparency and a vector chart from a sample PDF, and what went wrong.
2026-10-11 - How do I give a PDF to ChatGPT or Claude so it reads it properly?
Upload the PDF directly if it fits the limits; convert it first if it is too big or you build your own search. The limits we checked and what a converted file looks like.
2026-10-11 - Is it safe to merge PDF files online, or does the site upload them?
Some online PDF mergers upload your files, others work inside your browser. How to check which one you are using, and what we saw when we merged two PDFs here.
2026-10-11 - How can I send only some pages of a PDF without sending the rest?
Extract the pages you need into a new PDF and send that. What we tested on a six-page sample, which text and document properties stayed behind, and what we did not check.
2026-10-11 - Why does a PDF lose its headings and lists when converted to Markdown?
A PDF records where text sits, not what it means. What a converter kept and lost on a two-page sample we ran through PDF to Markdown, and what to check afterwards.
2026-10-11 - How to copy a table from a PDF to Excel without it falling apart
Why copied PDF tables break in Excel, three ways to move them across cleanly, and a worked example showing which cells become real numbers, dates and text.
2026-10-03 - How to extract text from a scanned PDF (and what to check afterwards)
Tell whether a PDF is a scan, get its text out with OCR, and see what a real run gets right and wrong, with a worked example and a checklist for afterwards.
2026-10-03 - Why PDF to Excel loses formatting, and what 'numbers as numbers' means
Numbers turning into text, dates flipping, zeros disappearing: what really gets lost when a PDF table goes into Excel, and the rules that keep values trustworthy.
2026-10-03