How to Convert Just a Part of the PDF to CSV by using PDF.co and Zapier?

We prepared this step-by-step tutorial with screenshots to teach you how to convert a part of the PDF to CSV by using the ExtractionArea profile in Zapier. This way you can specify an area that you only want to be extracted.

Quick Navigation:

  1. Start by clicking on Make a Zap! at the upper-left corner of your Zapier dashboard
  2. We will now set up our Trigger. Search and select Google drive as the App event. As for our Trigger Event go ahead and choose New File in Folder.
  3. Select or connect your Google Drive account which you will be using with Zapier
  4. Select My Google Drive as the drive to be used and select the specific folder where the PDF file is located.
  5. We will then Test the trigger to see if there are any errors or none.
  6. Search and select PDF.co as our App event and select PDF to Anything Converter as our Action event.
  7. Select or connect your PDF.co account which you will be using with Zapier.
  8. Under Set up Action, choose CSV(comma-separated values) as Output Format. Set the PDF URL as Web Content Link. For the Custom Profiles, insert the following code:
    "ExtractionArea": [
    30.0,
    309.0,
    534.75,
    135.0
    ]
  9. Click on Test & Review to see if there are any errors or none.
  10. Once the test returns as successful. You can use the link to view and download the output PDF.

Step by step guide:

We will use this sample PDF and convert only a specific area into CSV. We will only extract the part with the rectangle.

Screenshot of Source PDF
Screenshot of Source PDF

After following the step by step guide, the result will look like this:

Screenshot of Output CSV
Screenshot of Output CSV

STEP 1 – Start by clicking on Make a Zap! at the upper-left corner of your Zapier dashboard
STEP 2 -We will now set up our Trigger. Search and select Google drive as the App event. As for our Trigger Event go ahead and choose New File in Folder. In this case, whenever there’s a new file added to your specific folder, it will trigger this zap.

Selecting Google Drive as the Trigger and New File in Folder as the Trigger Event

NOTE: If you are not a Google Drive user, you can use a different cloud storage service such as Dropbox, OneDrive, etc., and look for a similar Trigger Event.

STEP 3 – Select or connect your Google Drive account which you will be using with Zapier

Choosing a Google Drive account to use

STEP 4 – Select My Google Drive as the drive to be used and select the specific folder where the PDF file is located. In my case, I put the PDF file in the Tutorial folder.

Choosing My Google Drive as the drive to be used and selecting the folder that contains the PDF File

STEP 5 – We will then Test the trigger to see if there are any errors or none.

Testing the trigger

So we’re done setting up the Trigger. We will now set up the Action.

STEP 6 – Search and select PDF.co as our App event and select PDF to Anything Converter as our Action event. With PDF to Anything Converter, you can convert your PDF File into Text, CSV, HTML, XLS, etc.

Choosing PDF.co as the Action and PDF to Anything Converter as the Action Event

STEP 7 – Select or connect your PDF.co account which you will be using with Zapier. You can get your API key by clicking here.

Choosing a PDF.co account to be used

STEP 8 -Under Set up Action, choose CSV(comma-separated values) as Output Format. Set the PDF URL as Web Content Link. For the Custom Profiles, insert the following code:

"ExtractionArea": [
30.0,
309.0,
534.75,
135.0
]

Setting up the action

Adding the code to the Custom Profiles

NOTE: You can get the coordinates for your PDF here. The format for ExtractionArea would be X,Y,Width,Height.

STEP 9 – We will now Test the action. Click on Test & Review to see if there are any errors or none.

Testing the action

STEP 10 – Once the test returns as successful. You can use the link to view and download the output PDF.

Test successful

Use Extraction Area Profile – Video