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M
Mateusz31999279oy2w
Participant
September 5, 2023
Question

Illustrator script or plugin

  • September 5, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 1140 views

hello

does anyone know a script or plugin that will automatically read data from adobe pdf pro and put in illustator

we get a pdf document which is always in the same form but the numbers inside are different, I would like illustrator to download them and place them in the file.ai

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1 reply

H
hhas01
Inspiring
September 6, 2023

“adobe pdf pro” is not a thing; do you mean “Adobe Acrobat Pro” or “PDF Pro”?

 

Extracting data from a PDF can be easy or difficult/nightmare depending on how the PDF is constructed.

 

If it is built as a PDF form, with editable text fields, you can easily export that text to XFDF (XML) file which other software can read:

 

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/acrobat/using/collecting-pdf-form-data.html

 

OTOH, if the PDF contains print data only, extracting that and turning it back into editable text is a PITA. There are 3rd-party libraries for popular scripting languages that will attempt to reconstruct the text directly from the underlying data, using various heuristics to determine words, spaces, lines in paragraphs. Alternatively Acrobat and other advanced PDF reader apps may have an OCR feature that does something similar. The accuracy of the output can be very hit or miss, so this approach is really a last resort. If a third-party is sending you these print-only PDF files for you to copy-paste text from them, ask them if they can send that text in a simpler text-based format which is more reliable to work with, e.g. CSV, JSON, XML, XLSX.

 

Extracting the data and inserting it into Illustrator are really two separate tasks, so I recommend you solve the hard part first—getting data out of the PDF and into a machine-readable XFDF/CSV/JSON/XML file. That’s a question better directed to the Acrobat forum. Once you have that working, come back here for assistance placing that data into an .ai document.

M
Mateusz31999279oy2wAuthor
Participant
September 6, 2023
I mean Adobe Acrobat Pro

Yes I can export to xml file, what next for placing data into .ai document?
H
hhas01
Inspiring
September 6, 2023
Yes I can export to xml file

 

Promising start. If the exported file is XFDF, the process of extracting it from the PDF can be automated later. The Acrobat forum can tell you if you this can be done by automating Acrobat directly (it’s been years since I’ve used Acrobat so can’t tell you myself). Alternatively, there are 3rd-part libraries for popular scripting languages that will read the .pdf file and output its XFDF content.

 

As to importing the XML data into Illustrator, you might be able to do this using Illustrator’s built-in Data Merge feature:

 

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/data-driven-graphics-templates-variables.html

 

Google “Illustrator Data Merge” for more information, tutorials, etc. DM has limited capability but may be sufficient if your needs are simple. Otherwise, the XML file can be read and its content inserted using ExtendScript (AI’s embedded JavaScript engine).

 

If you want more detailed advice or want someone to develop a script for you, please post an example of the XML file, the .ai template into which the data should be inserted, and a manually-finished .ai artwork for Before & After comparison. (You can replace any business-sensitive information with mockup text/art; it’s just so we can see what content goes where and propose solutions.)

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