PDFtextractor

A simple Python script to batch-extract text from all PDF files in a specified folder and save the extracted text as Markdown files.

Features

• Extracts text from every PDF in a chosen directory
• Saves extracted text as .md files in a textracted/ subfolder
• Handles errors gracefully and provides clear messages
• Skips PDFs if corresponding markdown already exists to avoid reprocessing

Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• PyMuPDF (fitz)

Installation

1. Clone this repository or download the script.
2. Install the required dependencies:

   pip install pymupdf

Usage

1. Run the script:

   python textractor.py

2. When prompted, enter the path to the folder containing your PDF files.
3. The script will:
   • Check the folder exists and contains PDF files
   • Extract text from each PDF
   • Save each PDF's text as a Markdown file in a textracted/ subfolder next to your PDFs
   • Skip PDFs whose .md output already exists

Output

• For each PDF, a corresponding .md file will be created in textracted/.
• Example: document.pdf → textracted/document.md

Example

$ python textractor.py
Enter the path to the folder containing PDFs: /path/to/my/pdfs
Extracted text from 'file1.pdf' to 'textracted/file1.md'
Extracted text from 'file2.pdf' to 'textracted/file2.md'

Versions

• v1 (textractor.py): Simple version that processes a single folder, extracting PDFs directly within and saving markdowns into a textracted/ subfolder.
• v2 (textractorv2.py): Advanced version that watches a root folder recursively, processes PDFs at any depth, skips files with existing .md, and outputs each into its first-level subfolder's textracted/.

Recommended: for most use cases, start with v1 and extend it as needed.

Troubleshooting

• Ensure you have permission to read the PDF files and write to the output directory.
• If you encounter errors, check that the folder path is correct and that the PDFs are not corrupted.

License

MIT License