Bulk PDF Text & Metadata Extractor (URLs to Text/JSON)

Extract text, page count, title, author, dates and producer from PDFs at any URL, in bulk, with no login, no browser and no code. Export to JSON, CSV or Excel, or use the API.

Extract text, page count, title, author, dates and producer from PDFs at any URL, in bulk. Also pulls emails, phone numbers and links found in the document and flags scanned PDFs with no text layer. Ideal for reports, filings, brochures, price lists and research papers feeding AI, search or spreadsheets.

Use cases

• Pull text from reports, filings or brochures into AI/RAG pipelines
• Extract contact emails/phones from PDF directories and price lists
• Audit PDF metadata (author, dates, producer) across a website

Input

Field	Type	Notes
pdfUrls	array	Direct links to PDF files (max 50 MB each).
maxPages	integer	0 = all pages.
includeText	boolean	Put the extracted text in the output.
maxTextChars	integer	Truncate very long documents.
extractContacts	boolean
maxConcurrency	integer

Example input

{
 "pdfUrls": [
  "https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf",
  "https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.03762",
  "https://example.com/",
  "https://example.com/missing.pdf"
 ],
 "maxTextChars": 5000
}

Output

One dataset item per result. Main columns: url, pageCount, title, author, createdDate, wordCount, isLikelyScanned, emails, error. A RUN_SUMMARY record is saved to the default key-value store. See the sample output in the Output tab.

Example output

{
  "url": "https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf",
  "finalUrl": "https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf",
  "fileSizeBytes": 140815,
  "pageCount": 6,
  "title": "Form W-9 (Rev. March 2024)",
  "author": "SE:W:CAR:MP",
  "subject": "Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification",
  "creator": "Designer 6.5",
  "producer": "Designer 6.5",
  "createdDate": "2024-03-06",
  "modifiedDate": "2024-03-06",
  "pdfVersion": "1.10.100",
  "wordCount": 6259,
  "charCount": 37724,
  "isLikelyScanned": false,
  "emails": [
    "phishing@irs.gov",
    "spam@uce.gov"
  ],
  "phones": [
    "800-772-1213",
    "800-908-4490",
    "877-777-4778"
  ],
  "urls": []
}

Pricing

Pay per result, with no monthly rental or subscription:

• PDF extracted: $0.002

Example: 1,000 results cost about $2.00 in fees. Apify's free plan includes $5 of monthly credit, which is enough to test this Actor.

FAQ

Do I need an account, cookies or a login for the source site? No. Bulk PDF Text & Metadata Extractor uses public data sources only, so there is nothing to connect and no account to risk.

How much will a run cost? You pay only for results delivered (see Pricing above), plus Apify platform usage, which the free plan's monthly credit easily covers for test runs. Start with a small limit to see the exact cost per run.

Can I export to CSV, Excel or Google Sheets? Yes. Every run's dataset can be downloaded as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or pushed to Google Sheets, Make, Zapier, n8n, Slack or a webhook through Apify integrations.

Can I run it on a schedule or from my own code? Yes. Add an Apify Schedule (hourly, daily, weekly) or call it through the Apify API / Python & JavaScript clients. It also works with AI agents through the Apify MCP server.

What happens if an input is invalid or a source is down? The run keeps going. The bad input gets a row with an error field so you can see what failed, and you are not charged for results that were not delivered.

Is this legal to use? It collects publicly available data. You are responsible for using the output in line with the source's terms and privacy laws such as GDPR/CCPA; don't use it for spam.

Something missing or broken? Open an issue on the Issues tab. Feature requests are usually added within a few days.

Scheduling / monitoring

Create a Schedule (daily/weekly) and connect a webhook or Slack/email integration.

Fair use

Official public APIs only, no login. Do not use output for spam or harassment. Respect the data sources' rate limits and terms.

REST API

GET https://api.mediaprotools.com/v1/pdf-text?items=... (header X-API-Key). Up to 3 items per call, separated by ,. Or POST {"items":[...],"options":{...}}.

Parameter	Type	Notes
items	token	Direct links to PDF files (max 50 MB each).
maxPages	integer 0-100	0 = all pages.
includeText	boolean	Put the extracted text in the output.
maxTextChars	integer 1000-200000	Truncate very long documents.
extractContacts	boolean	Extract emails, phones & links

Output fields: author, charCount, createdDate, creator, emails, error, fileSizeBytes, finalUrl, isLikelyScanned, modifiedDate, pageCount, pdfVersion, phones, producer, subject, text, textTruncated, title, url, urls, wordCount.