# PDF to Text & Markdown — Bulk (RAG-ready) (`hipersoft/pdf-to-text-extractor`) Actor

Extract clean text or Markdown from PDFs in bulk — with an optional per-page JSON view. Feed the output straight into RAG pipelines, LLM prompts and n8n/Make/Zapier steps.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/hipersoft/pdf-to-text-extractor.md
- **Developed by:** [hiper soft](https://apify.com/hipersoft) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.002 / pdf extracted

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## PDF to Text & Markdown — Bulk (RAG-ready)

**Turn a list of PDF links into clean, ready-to-use text or Markdown — in bulk.** Extract the text layer from every PDF, save each result as a file, and get a tidy dataset row per document.

### What it does

- Extracts **clean text** from the text layer of each PDF.
- Outputs **plain text**, **Markdown**, or **per-page JSON** (page number → text).
- Saves one result file per PDF and returns **pages, characters and words** for each.
- Processes **many PDFs in one run** — one dataset row per document.

### Use cases

- **RAG pipelines** — extract, then feed the text to your embedding/indexing step.
- **LLM prompts** — drop clean document text straight into your AI step for summaries, Q\&A or classification.
- **n8n / Make / Zapier** — run this as a step, then pass the text on to your AI or database node.
- **Content & research** — pull the readable text out of reports, invoices, papers and manuals at scale.

### Input

```json
{
  "pdfUrls": [
    "https://example.com/report.pdf",
    "https://example.com/invoice.pdf"
  ],
  "output": "text"
}
```

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `pdfUrls` | array | Direct links to the PDF files to extract text from. |
| `output` | string | `text`, `markdown`, or `pages` (per-page JSON). |

### Output

Each PDF produces one dataset row, plus a saved result file you can download.

```json
{
  "url": "https://example.com/report.pdf",
  "pages": 12,
  "chars": 18540,
  "words": 3120,
  "resultUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/doc-0001.txt",
  "ok": true
}
```

#### Output schema

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `url` | string | The source PDF URL. |
| `pages` | integer | Number of pages in the PDF. |
| `chars` | integer | Character count of the extracted text. |
| `words` | integer | Word count of the extracted text. |
| `resultUrl` | string | Link to the saved text / Markdown / JSON file. |
| `ok` | boolean | Whether extraction succeeded for this PDF. |

### FAQ

**Does it work on scanned PDFs?** It reads the embedded text layer. Image-only scans with no text layer will return little or no text.

**Can I automate it?** Yes — via [integrations on the Apify platform](https://apify.com/integrations) (including n8n, Make and Zapier) and the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2).

**How am I charged?** A flat fee per PDF processed.

### Notes

Original clean-room implementation.

# Actor input Schema

## `pdfUrls` (type: `array`):

List of direct links to PDF files to extract text from. Each URL should point to a downloadable PDF.

## `output` (type: `string`):

Choose the saved format: plain text, Markdown, or a per-page JSON file (page number → text).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "pdfUrls": [
    "https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tests/xhtml/testfiles/resources/pdf/dummy.pdf"
  ],
  "output": "text"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

The results as dataset items.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "pdfUrls": [
        "https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tests/xhtml/testfiles/resources/pdf/dummy.pdf"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("hipersoft/pdf-to-text-extractor").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "pdfUrls": ["https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tests/xhtml/testfiles/resources/pdf/dummy.pdf"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("hipersoft/pdf-to-text-extractor").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "pdfUrls": [
    "https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tests/xhtml/testfiles/resources/pdf/dummy.pdf"
  ]
}' |
apify call hipersoft/pdf-to-text-extractor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,hipersoft/pdf-to-text-extractor"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/F2vRbjGKIJrGG2u7L/builds/diCZRU8MbdCcmD4VV/openapi.json