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stephaniea20591185
stephaniea20591185
New Participant
September 4, 2015
Answered

Extract PDF Pages Based on Content

  • September 4, 2015
  • 7 replies
  • 45145 views

Every fall and winter I have to work with PDF files that are hundreds of pages. Last fall I came across a java script that I was able to run and it worked beautifully. In the last year, I have either lost more brain cells or acrobat dc doesn't work the same way as acrobat X. I need to find a way to extract the pages based off of a word search and save those pages to another file. I would appreciate any suggestions. Also, I have added the java script that was used last year. Thanks in advance for your help.


// Iterates over all pages and find a given string and extracts all

// pages on which that string is found to a new file.

var pageArray = [];

var stringToSearchFor = "Total";

for (var p = 0; p < this.numPages; p++) {

// iterate over all words

for (var n = 0; n < this.getPageNumWords(p); n++) {

if (this.getPageNthWord(p, n) == stringToSearchFor) {

pageArray.push(p);

break;

}

}

}

if (pageArray.length > 0) {

// extract all pages that contain the string into a new document

var d = app.newDoc(); // this will add a blank page - we need to remove that once we are done

for (var n = 0; n < pageArray.length; n++) {

d.insertPages( {

nPage: d.numPages-1,

cPath: this.path,

nStart: pageArray,

nEnd: pageArray,

} );

}

  // remove the first page

  d.deletePages(0);

  

}

    Correct answer Karl Heinz Kremer

    I assume you were running the script as an Action in Acrobat XI (as described in my blog post). You can do the same thing in Acrobat DC. Just download the SEQU file again (from here: Extract PDF Pages Based on Content - KHKonsulting LLC) - then make sure that the filename is ExtractPagesWithString.sequ (when I download the file using Safari on a Mac, it appends .xml at the end - in that case, just rename the file so that it has the .sequ extension again). Now you should be able to drag&drop the file on the new Acrobat DC icon or into the application window. You should get get a confirmation dialog (or two). Once the Action is imported, you should be able to run it. To find the Actions interface, type "Action" into Acrobat's tool search bar. You will find that at the top of the right hand pane, and at the top of the Tools collection when you click on Tools on the left side of the Acrobat window, or you can try to find the "Action Wizard" on the Tools page and click on it. You can now run the Action on one or more files, but it will always just search for the string that I've put into the code. To change that. select to edit the Action. Let's assume that you click on the Action Wizard on the Tools page. You should now see the following:



    Click on the "Manage Actions" button and then select the "Extract Pages With String" Action and click on the "Edit" button:


    The next thing you will see is this:

    When you now click on "Execute JavaScript", this Action item will expand and will look like this:

    Make sure that "Prompt User" is checked.

    Now you can save your modified Action. When you run the Action, you will see the JavaScript editor pop up:

    You can now change the "stringToSearchFor" variable and set it to whatever text string you want to search for and split the document at.

    7 replies

    T
    tanner326936295mb9
    New Participant
    April 16, 2024

    Is there a Javascript that deletes pages if they do not contain one of the multiple supplied keywords? I have a functioning version that allows page deletion for one keyword but not multiple.

    E
    ET2021 ET
    Known Participant
    December 9, 2021

    Is it possible to get this action to work with 2 words separated by a space?  For example: "AB 123"

    Were looking to extract a form with the form number printed on the page.  So far, we have been able to get this action to work but only for the "AB", and we get 8 different forms.

    When we try "AB 123"  nothing happens.

    E
    ET2021 ET
    Known Participant
    December 9, 2021

    Also we need to get the extract to save automatically to folder.

    P
    pr0ject007
    New Participant
    March 4, 2021

    Anyone know how I can make this process run over and over with different variables without having to sit in front of the computer and waiting? 

    try67
    try67
    Braniac
    March 4, 2021

    Acrobat is not built for this kind of automation (on purpose). You would need to use a stand-alone tool to be able to do it like that. If you're interested I could develop for you such a tool (for a fee). You can contact me privately via [try6767 at gmail.com] to discuss it further.

    Kasandra
    Kasandra
    Inspiring
    October 18, 2018

    Is there a way to extract the pages with the string and the pages that immediately follow it?

    So for example, if page 3, and 7 contains the string 'Total' it will extract page 3, 4, 7, and 8?

    try67
    try67
    Braniac
    October 18, 2018

    Do you want to extract each page as a separate file, or to put them all into a single file?

    Joel Geraci
    Joel Geraci
    Inspiring
    October 18, 2018

    As was explained by try67, this is not a simple task. If it would be acceptable to extract individual pages, and you would then merge them manually, it would reduce the complexity a bit. However, given that my action from above already inserts multiple pages (and takes care of deleting the blank first page), it would are possible to modify that code. Take a look at the screenshot with the code above, you will find these lines it it:

    These two lines indicate which page will be inserted into the document. A very simple solution would be to adjust this statement and just add the following page as well. This has however a few potential problems: If the document does not contain a page following the page on which you found the term, the script will fail. If both the current page and the following page contain the term, you will end up with the second page being duplicated in your output file. These problems can be addressed, but it complicates the code a bit.

    For now, I'll just show you what you would need to modify in the red box above:

    nStart: pageArray,
    nEnd: pageArray+1,

    As you can see, the first line did not change,  the second one did change, and we are adding "1" to the page number.


    If you approach the problem differently, you will save yourself a lot of heartache. Instead of extracting pages that you want, delete pages that you don't. You script would start by doing a SaveAs to a new file then you can use some of the code above to detect pages that you want to keep and deleting the pages that you don't. Work from the back to the front and you won't need to keep track of page numbers.

    t_breeze09
    t_breeze09
    New Participant
    June 20, 2017

    Is it possible to delete pages that contain 'Total'? Also, is it possible to delete full phrases from pages instead of the page itself?

    try67
    try67
    Braniac
    June 20, 2017

    - Yes, this is explained above. Read the full thread.

    - That's possible, too, using the "Search & Remove Text" tool. However, it will not cause the rest of the text in the page to "re-flow". It will just leave a blank space in the middle of it, where the deleted text used to be.

    t_breeze09
    t_breeze09
    New Participant
    June 20, 2017

    -I couldn't find where they provided a solution to delete the pages containing 'Total'.. I prefer to just delete them, not extract them

    -Thank you, I was able to find and use the 'search and remove text' tool.

    H
    hometrader1
    Participating Frequently
    November 14, 2016

    Would you have a suggestion to delete the pages that contain that word "Total" and save the others?

    D
    Danielle Haran
    New Participant
    June 19, 2017

    I didn't know about this sequence. Very handy.

    Can it also be used so that rather than looking for the word "Total", it could be used to find a regular expression/GREP?

    Colin

    try67
    try67
    Braniac
    June 19, 2017

    It's possible, but if the search term is longer than one word it is quite complicated to implement it.

    Karl Heinz Kremer
    Karl Heinz Kremer
    Braniac
    September 4, 2015

    I guess you found the script on my web site

    What exactly is different now vs. when you used this last year? As far as I know, the script should work without any changes in Acrobat DC. In order to help, I would need a better understanding of what exactly is happening.

    Keep in mind that text extraction is a pretty complex task, and it only works correctly if the PDF file contains all the information needed to find text information. You can test this by doing a search in your PDF file (Ctrl-F or Cmd-F), then type in the term you are looking for. Can Acrobat find it? If not, then it's not the script's fault, it's the PDF file that cannot be searched.

      stephaniea20591185
      stephaniea20591185Author
      New Participant
      September 4, 2015

      First, I want to say that it worked perfectly last year so I’m sure it was me. It was a real time saver. I can’t seem to get to the right place to add the word that I need to search/extract. Also, I can’t find where to executing Java script in the newer version.

      Karl Heinz Kremer
      Karl Heinz KremerCorrect answer
      Braniac
      September 4, 2015

      I assume you were running the script as an Action in Acrobat XI (as described in my blog post). You can do the same thing in Acrobat DC. Just download the SEQU file again (from here: Extract PDF Pages Based on Content - KHKonsulting LLC) - then make sure that the filename is ExtractPagesWithString.sequ (when I download the file using Safari on a Mac, it appends .xml at the end - in that case, just rename the file so that it has the .sequ extension again). Now you should be able to drag&drop the file on the new Acrobat DC icon or into the application window. You should get get a confirmation dialog (or two). Once the Action is imported, you should be able to run it. To find the Actions interface, type "Action" into Acrobat's tool search bar. You will find that at the top of the right hand pane, and at the top of the Tools collection when you click on Tools on the left side of the Acrobat window, or you can try to find the "Action Wizard" on the Tools page and click on it. You can now run the Action on one or more files, but it will always just search for the string that I've put into the code. To change that. select to edit the Action. Let's assume that you click on the Action Wizard on the Tools page. You should now see the following:



      Click on the "Manage Actions" button and then select the "Extract Pages With String" Action and click on the "Edit" button:


      The next thing you will see is this:

      When you now click on "Execute JavaScript", this Action item will expand and will look like this:

      Make sure that "Prompt User" is checked.

      Now you can save your modified Action. When you run the Action, you will see the JavaScript editor pop up:

      You can now change the "stringToSearchFor" variable and set it to whatever text string you want to search for and split the document at.

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