Get specific data from nonuniform PDFs and place in a single table in Excel

[jkingston]

Hello,

I need to get specific data from nonuniform PDFs and place them in a single table. For example, say I have 100 clients that have separate types of tax forms. Say Schedule A, B, E, F, and H. Some clients have only Schedules A, E, and H. Some clients have B, F, and H. The Schedules have varying length of page numbers, so it makes it difficult to use PowerQuery to open Table 20 (Page 10), for example, because the specific data I need from Schedule H sits on page 8 in one file and sits on page 12 in another file, but both contain Schedule H and Schedule H is always a uniform, identical, 4 pages.

How can I use PowerQuery or another tool to pull a specific data item from Schedule H, regardless of where it sits in the PDF file for individual clients? Say I have thousands of PDFs that I want to pull a specific data entry from but it sits on different pages as described above, but within a specific tax form, Schedule H.

Thank you so much,

Jared

 

[johnny51981]

I am currently working on completely nonuniform PDFs into Excel tables through Power Query. At this VERY moment. HA

Because they are so inconsistent in their inclusion, order, or even the right template...I've had to NOT use the Tables, but use the Pages instead. Expand all of the data until the final column...I have to add some extra because a Special Character might create another column in my stuff.

Anyway. Merge all of the expanded columns...I use "-@-" (no quotes) as my delimiter. From here and for you, you can begin creating helper columns, the first one being "Schedule"...if Text.Contains([Merged Column], "Schedule") then [Merged Column] else null. Tailor it until you are able to narrow down on to which Schedule is within the Merged Column....like, clear out anything else that may have been included in the Merged Column. Then, Fill Down your "Schedule" column. After that, you can create a template for all of the needs for each individual Schedule, breaking them back out by the "-@-".

Its incredibly difficult for me to explain any further than that (at least first reply), but hopefully that helps get your brain moving in the path that you need it to.