Extract PDF Pages Based on Content

[stephaniea20591185]

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);

}

[try67]

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

[Kasandra]

I would like them in the same file if possible!

[try67]

That's even trickier... You would need to create a dummy file with a blank page and then insert the matching pages into it, and then delete the dummy page at the end of the process.

I've developed very similar tools for some of my clients so if you're interested in hiring someone to do it for you (for a fee), feel free to contact me privately (try6767 at gmail.com) and we could discuss it in more detail.

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

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.

[Joel_Geraci]

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.

[Kasandra]

Joel,

I am not sure if you are referring to my problem, but this is not a solution. I need to run this script daily and the pages that are extracted are in a different location of a 500-page file every day. So deleting would be more work than a find and extract.

[Joel_Geraci]

"So deleting would be more work than a find and extract."

I assure you, that's not true. The portion of the script used to locate the pages to extract would be used instead to identify the pages to not delete. Using that method, you don't have the additional problem of assembling the extracted pages into a new file. It's a much simpler script than extracting and combining.

[Kasandra]

Joel,

This is why I am not the expert - lol. Is it a simple change in the script provided above?

[pr0ject007]

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]

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.

[ET2021 ET]

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.

[ET2021 ET]

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

[tanner326936295mb9]

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.