# PDF To Text

> Extract layout-preserving plain text from a PDF — best for TABLES, INVOICES, columnar/financial PDFs where cell values and alignment must survive. Parse each PDF ONCE to a file. To find a specific fact, prefer a bounded `grep -n -i -C2 "term" file | head`. Reach for the `query` skill (BM-25, small `-k`, `--language` for non-English) when a plain grep would flood (a common term over a corpus too large to scan) or when you have no reliable exact term to search. Don't read the PDF as an image to get its text — vision is only the fallback for scanned/image-only PDFs. Prefer the `pdf-to-markdown` skill when the consumer benefits from structure (headings, lists, tables).

- Skill: `pspdfkit-labs-nutrient-skills/pdf-to-text` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add pspdfkit-labs-nutrient-skills/pdf-to-text`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/pspdfkit-labs-nutrient-skills/pdf-to-text/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Docs & Writing
- License: Proprietary
- Author: pspdfkit-labs (https://skillmd.com/u/pspdfkit-labs-nutrient-skills)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/pspdfkit-labs-nutrient-skills/pdf-to-text

---


## Rules for agents (read first)

- Best for **tables, invoices, columnar/financial PDFs** — layout and cell values survive.
- **Parse once**, then **default to bounded grep:** `grep -n -i -C2 "term" file | head`.
- **Use the `query` skill only when grep would flood** — a common term over a corpus too large to scan; then small `-k`, and `--language <lang>` for non-English.
- **Don't read the source PDF as an image to get its *text*** — this extractor is faster and more accurate for extractable text. (For a scanned/image-only PDF with no text layer, a vision tool is the right fallback — see Troubleshooting.)

# PDF to Text

Convert PDFs into layout-preserving plain text. Each word is placed on a character grid that mirrors its on-page position, so columns, indentation, and tabular alignment survive the conversion. This is significantly higher quality than reading a PDF directly with the `read` tool, which only extracts loose text without spatial fidelity.

## When to use this vs. pdf-to-markdown

- **Use `pdf-to-text`** when the downstream consumer is plain-text only (a non-Markdown LLM, a grep/awk pipeline, a CSV-style table extractor that cares about column alignment).
- **Use `pdf-to-markdown`** when the consumer benefits from semantic structure (headings, lists, tables, reading order). Most RAG and LLM-context pipelines fall here.

## Related Nutrient skills

- **`query`** — once a file is extracted, *search* it instead of reading a large output back into context: ranked BM-25 search that returns only the top line windows ("parse once, query many"). Add it the way your agent installs skills.

## Usage

Before running any commands, set `SKILL_DIR` to the absolute path of the directory containing this SKILL.md file. Use `$SKILL_DIR/bin/pdf-to-text` in all commands below.

The `$SKILL_DIR/bin/pdf-to-text` wrapper automatically installs the platform-specific binary into `~/.local/share/nutrient/cli/` from the CDN. It caches the binary and only checks for updates every 6 hours, so subsequent runs are fast. The same binary backs `pdf-to-markdown`, `pdf-to-text`, and `self-update`, so installing either skill gets you the same `~/.local/share/nutrient/cli/` install.

### Single file

```bash
$SKILL_DIR/bin/pdf-to-text INPUT.pdf OUTPUT.txt
```

If `OUTPUT.txt` is omitted, the converter writes the text to stdout instead.

### Batch directory (2+ files)

For multiple files, pass directories instead of individual files. The converter processes all PDFs in the input directory in parallel, which is much faster than converting one at a time.

```bash
$SKILL_DIR/bin/pdf-to-text INPUT_DIR/ OUTPUT_DIR/
```

## Workflow

1. **Choose mode**: Use batch directory mode for 2+ files, single file mode otherwise.
2. **Run the converter**: `$SKILL_DIR/bin/pdf-to-text INPUT [OUTPUT]`
3. **Check the exit code**: Exit 0 means success. On failure, read stderr for the error message.
4. **Validate the output**: If the output file is empty or near-empty, the PDF is likely image-only — see Troubleshooting below.
5. **Report the output path**: Tell the user where the converted file(s) are. Do NOT read the text back into context by default — converted documents can be very large and will fill the context window. Only read the output if the user's task specifically requires analyzing or summarizing the content.

## Troubleshooting

- **Empty or minimal output**: The PDF is most likely scanned/image-only and contains no extractable text. This skill does not OCR; use a vision-capable tool first.
- **Non-zero exit code**: Read stderr for the specific error. Common causes: corrupted PDF, unsupported encryption, or network issues during first-run binary download.
- **First run is slow**: The wrapper downloads the platform binary on first use (~a few seconds). Subsequent runs use the cached binary.
- **Columns look wrong**: The extractor mirrors spatial layout exactly, so unusual PDF page geometry (e.g. rotated pages, two-column reflows) can produce surprising alignment. Try `pdf-to-markdown` if the document has a regular structure the markdown exporter can recognize.

## License

Free for processing up to 1,000 documents per calendar month.

Commercial license required for:
- processing over 1,000 documents/month
- redistributing the binary
- OEM/white-label use

Contact `sales@nutrient.io` for commercial licensing.