PDF Get Words

PDF Get Words

Type: pdf-get-words  ·  Package: PDF Activities v1.1.0  ·  Output: List

Extracts every word of the PDF along with its page and its bounding box (position and size). It is the “with position” version of PDF Get Text: instead of a block of text, it tells you where each word sits on the page.

How it works

It goes through the requested pages and returns a flat list of words (not grouped by page or by line): each item carries its own page number.

Coordinates use a top-left origin — the same one images and OCR use. That way the words this activity returns and the lines OCR Get Lines returns speak the same language, and you can locate a value on the page no matter where it came from.

By default coordinates come back in PDF points (a point is 1/72 of an inch). If you set dpi, they come back in pixels for a render at that resolution: this makes them line up with the files produced by PDF To Images at the same dpi, so you can crop or draw on the image using these coordinates directly.

Needs a text layer

It only works with PDFs that have actual selectable text. In a scanned PDF there are no words to extract: render it first with PDF To Images and use OCR Get Lines on the images.

Required parameters

Parameter	Editor	Description
path	expression	PDF file path.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Editor	Description
pages	expression	Pages to read: "all" (default) or a range such as "1-3,5,7-9".
dpi	expression	When set, coordinates are returned in pixels for a render at this resolution (they line up with PDF To Images at the same DPI). When omitted, in PDF points. Between 36 and 1200.

Output

Returns a List of words. Each word has:

Key	What it is
text	The word.
page	Page number (from 1).
x	Distance from the left edge of the page.
y	Distance from the top edge of the page.
width	Width of the word.
height	Height of the word.

Example

Render the PDF and extract the words with coordinates that match the images:

PDF To Images   path = = invoicePath   outputDir = "C:/temp/pages"   dpi = 200   → output: images
PDF Get Words   path = = invoicePath   dpi = 200   → output: words
Log   message = = "Words: " + count(words)

Locate where a value appears on the page:

PDF Get Words   path = = filePath   pages = "1"   → output: words
For Each   collection = = words   itemVariable = word
 └─ activities:
      If   condition = = word["text"] == "TOTAL"
       └─ then:
            Log   message = = "TOTAL is at x=" + word["x"] + " y=" + word["y"]

Related activities

• PDF Get Text — the text without coordinates.
• PDF To Images — render the pages to images at the same DPI.
• OCR Get Lines — the same thing, but for scanned PDFs and images.