Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • PDF Data Extractor
  • Features
• Tech Stack
• Prerequisites
• Installation
• Usage
• Project Structure
• Supported Formats
• Limitations
• Contributing

Introduction

PDF Data Extractor

A simple web application that automatically extracts personal information (Name, Phone Number, Address) from PDF documents and populates a web form. The system uses Python for PDF processing, Node.js for the API server, and React for the frontend interface.

Features

• PDF text extraction and parsing
• Automatic detection of personal information
• Real-time form population
• RESTful API endpoints
• Web-based interface
• Support for various PDF formats
• Error handling and validation

Tech Stack

Backend

• Node.js
• Python
• pdfplumber

Frontend

• React
• Tailwind CSS

Prerequisites

Before running this project, make sure you have:

• Node.js installed on your system
• Python
• npm

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/raghav-97/pdf-extractor.git
   cd pdf-extractor
   

2. Install Frontend Dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Navigate to backend folder and install backend Dependencies:

   cd backend
   npm install
   

4. Install Python Dependencies

   cd backend/python
   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

Usage

1. Start the backend server: Navigate to backend folder

   cd backend                  // run this in \pdf-extractor\backend directory
   node server.js
   

2. Start the frontend Development server:

   cd ..                       // make sure you are in \pdf-extractor directory 
   npm run dev
   

Project Structure

Your project structure should look like this:

pdf-extractor/
├── backend/
│   ├── node_modules/
│   ├── python/
│   │   ├── pdf_parser.py
│   │   └── requirements.txt
│   ├── uploads/          # For storing uploaded PDFs
│   ├── package.json
│   ├── package-lock.json
│   └── server.js
├── node_modules/
├── public/
├── src/
├── .gitignore
├── eslint.config.js
├── index.html
├── package.json
├── postcss.config.js
├── README.md
├── tailwind.config.js
└── vite.config.js

PDF Format Support

The application can extract information from PDFs that:

Contain searchable text (not scanned images) Have information labeled with common patterns:

• "Name:"
• "Phone:"
• "Address:"

Known Limitations

Cannot process:

• Password-protected PDFs
• Scanned PDFs without OCR
• Image-only PDFs

Requires specific label formats:

• Information should be preceded by labels (e.g., "Name:", "Phone:", "Address:")
• Text should be in a readable format

Contributing

• Fork the repository

• Create a feature branch:

  git checkout -b feature/my-feature
  

• Commit changes:

  git commit -am 'Add new feature'
  

• Push to branch:

  git push origin feature/my-feature
  

• Submit a Pull Request