Run OCR on the scanned supplier certificate from [issuer=NorthCert], convert it to searchable text, and save the file …
Open your PDF file in Adobe Acrobat.
Select the Export PDF tool from the right pane.
Choose Spreadsheet as the export format.
Select either Microsoft Excel Workbook (*.xlsx) or Comma Separated Values (*.csv) as your output format.
Click Export.
If prompted, specify the location and file name for the exported file, then save.
Open the exported file in Excel or your preferred spreadsheet application to review and analyze the extracted table data.
Best practiceIf tables are not extracted cleanly, try using the 'Organize Pages' tool to split the PDF into smaller sections before exporting, as some blogs suggest this improves accuracy for complex layouts.
You can preview the table structure in the export dialog before saving to ensure the data is being recognized correctly.
This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.
To extract expiry dates from a PDF, you need to use the Adobe PDF Extract API. This API is for developers. It converts your PDF into a structured format like JSON or Markdown. Once in this format, you can easily find and pull out specific information like expiry dates using code. This is not a feature you can use directly inside the Adobe Acrobat application.
The PDF Extract API is a powerful tool that turns your PDF documents into structured data. This means it can read the PDF and organize its content (text, tables, images) into a format like JSON or Markdown. This is very useful because PDFs are often hard for computers to 'understand' directly. By making the data structured, the API allows other programs to easily find and pull out specific details, such as all expiry dates across many documents, making data analysis and automation much simpler.
Yes, the PDF Extract API can work with both native and scanned PDFs. It uses Sensei, Adobe's artificial intelligence, to understand the content. This means even if your PDF is a scanned image, the API can still 'read' the text, including expiry dates, and convert it into structured data. This makes it very flexible for different types of PDF documents you might have.
| Feature | Adobe Acrobat App | PDF Extract API |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | View, edit, and manage PDFs manually. | Automate structured data extraction from PDFs. |
| User Type | General users, designers, office workers. | Developers, IT professionals. |
| Output | Edited PDF, copied text (manual). | Structured JSON, Markdown, CSV, XLSX. |
| Complexity | Simple, click-based interface. | Requires coding knowledge. |
Using the PDF Extract API saves a lot of time and reduces errors, especially when you have many PDFs. Manually copying expiry dates is slow, boring, and prone to human mistakes. The API automates this process, quickly extracting all the required data into a structured format. This means you can process thousands of documents in minutes, ensuring accuracy and freeing up your time for more important tasks. It's essential for large-scale data analysis and automation workflows.