Auto Extract Tables from PDFs and Convert to Excel

Step 1: Monitor for New PDF Documents

Node: Google Drive Trigger

Settings:

• Trigger On: Changes Involving a Specific Folder
• Folder From List: Your source folder
• Watch For: File Created

What This Does: Automatically detects when a new PDF document is added to your designated Google Drive folder.

Success Looks Like: The trigger outputs file metadata (id, name, webContentLink) as soon as a PDF containing tables is uploaded.

Step 2: Scan PDF for Table Structures

Node: HTTP Request → PDF.co Find Text in Table with AI

Settings:

• Method: POST
• URL: https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/find/table
• Headers:
  • x-api-key: YOUR_PDFCO_API_KEY
  • Content-Type: application/json
• JSON Body:

{
    "url": "{{ $json.webContentLink }}",
    "async": "false",
    "inline": "true"
}

What This Does: Calls PDF.co's table detection API to scan the PDF and identify all table structures with their exact coordinates.

Success Looks Like: Returns a response containing table locations, dimensions, and metadata for each detected table in the PDF.

Step 3: Extract Specific Table to Excel

Node: PDF.co API → Convert from PDF

Settings:

• URL: ={{ $('Google Drive Trigger').item.json.webContentLink }}
• Convert Type: PDF to XLS
• Advanced Options → Extraction Region: ={{ $json.body.tables[1].rect }}

What This Does: Uses the table coordinates from Step 2 to extract a specific table (tables[1] = second table found) and convert it directly to Excel format.

Success Looks Like: PDF.co returns a download URL for the Excel file containing the extracted table data.

Pro Tip: Change tables[1] to tables[0] for the first table, or tables[2] for the third table, depending on which table you want to extract.

Step 4: Download the Excel File

Node: HTTP Request

Settings:

• Method: GET
• URL: ={{ $json.url }}

What This Does: Downloads the generated Excel file from PDF.co's servers.

Success Looks Like: HTTP Request returns the Excel file in binary format, ready for upload to Google Drive.

Step 5: Upload Excel to Google Drive

Node: Google Drive → Upload File

Settings:

• Input Data Field Name: data
• Parent Drive From List: My Drive
• Parent Folder From List: Select your destination folder for Excel files

What This Does: Uploads the extracted table data as an Excel spreadsheet into your designated Google Drive folder.

Success Looks Like: The Excel file appears in your destination folder with the table data properly formatted and ready for analysis.