Retrieve Column Data in PDF Table

You can retrieve data from the column of a PDF table using the Get Table Column Entries (PDF) activity. This workflow example demonstrates how to retrieve data from the column of a PDF table.

Prerequisites

You have created one or several automations in the Cloud Studio, as described in Create an Automation.

For example, refer to the following table. You can retrieve the data from three columns of a PDF table using the Get Table Column Entries (PDF) activity three times.

Procedure

  1. In your automation, on the right-hand side panel, go to the Tools section and click Activities.

  2. Drag and drop the Search Text Items (PDF) activity into the workflow of your automation.

  3. Drag and drop the Get Table Column Entries (PDF) activity into the workflow of your automation.

  4. Select the Get Table Column Entries (PDF) activity. The Get Table Column Entries (PDF) side panel appears. Enter values in the Input Parameters.

  5. Click Save to save your changes.

  6. Click Test.

Result

The data is retrieved from the column of a PDF table.

Further Details

Basic Usage of the Get Table Column Entries (PDF) Activity

For the basic usage of the activity, you must set input parameters only for the columnHeader and textBelowTable fields.

The activity will retrieve the column data between the letter “M” and “L” and below the label “Material” until the label “Date”. If you don’t set the value for the textBelowTable field, the activity will retrieve the column data below all the labels until the end of the file.

In this case, the activity will not retrieve any column data as there is no data between the letter “M” and “L”.

Offset Management of the Get Table Column Entries (PDF) Activity

To retrieve the column data of the correct position, you must set values to the offset parameters. The offset parameters are the number of offsets to add to the header label position.

In this case, you must set input parameter for the leftOffset to retrieve the column data.

Thus, you can retrieve all the data of the material column.

Calculate the Value of the Offset Parameters

You can calculate the number of offsets to retrieve the column data.

In this case, you need to calculate the value of the left offset parameter to retrieve the column data by using the left position of the label “Material” and the left position of “Items”. You can use the Search Text Items (PDF) activity to determine the correct value of the offset parameters.

Once you test the automation, you can see that the left position of the label “Material” is 127.73 and the left position of the label “Items” is 70.824. So, the value of the leftOffset parameter is 127.73 - 70.824 = 56.906 or 57.

You can also use an expression and let the automation calculate the correct value of the offset parameters.