How to Search for and Delete Text from a PDF Using PDF.co and Zapier
This tutorial shows how to find and remove specified text from PDF documents automatically using PDF.co and Zapier.
Prerequisites
You will need:
- A Zapier account
- A PDF.co account
- A PDF containing the text you want to remove
Step 1: Set Up the Trigger
Create a Zap and select the app that supplies the PDF. For example:
- App: Google Drive
- Trigger event: New File in Folder
Connect your account, select the folder containing incoming PDFs, and test the trigger with a sample file.
Step 2: Add the PDF.co Action
Add another step:
- App: PDF.co
- Action: Search and Delete Found Text
Connect your PDF.co account by signing in and authorizing Zapier.
Step 3: Configure the Text Search
Configure the PDF.co action:
- Source PDF URL: Map the PDF file from the trigger.
- Text to Search: Enter the text that should be deleted, such as
Notes. - Case Sensitive: Select
Falseif capitalization should be ignored. - Use Regular Expressions: Select
Falsefor an exact text search. Enable it only when using a regular-expression pattern. - Pages: Leave empty to process every page, or enter page indexes such as
0or0-2. - Replacement Limit: Enter
0to remove every occurrence. - Output PDF Name: Enter a filename such as
text-removed.pdf.
PDF.co page indexes begin at 0. Additional parameters are described in the PDF.co Search and Delete Text documentation.
Step 4: Test the Action
Test the PDF.co step. When processing finishes, PDF.co returns a URL for the updated PDF.
Open the URL and confirm that the selected text has been removed from the intended pages.
Step 5: Save the Result
PDF.co output URLs are temporary. Add another Zapier action to upload the processed PDF to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or another permanent destination.
Map the PDF.co output URL into the destination app’s file field.
Conclusion
The Zap now searches incoming PDFs for specified text, removes every matching occurrence, and makes the processed document available to the next step in the workflow.
