# PDF to Text & Markdown: Bulk Extractor for AI and RAG (`swiftkit/pdf-text`) Actor

Extract clean text or Markdown from PDF links in bulk: reading order rebuilt, headings detected, paragraphs joined. Title, author, dates, page and word counts, token estimate, per-page output. Scanned pages are flagged, not charged. Priced per page.

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

## Pricing

$0.30 / 1,000 page extracteds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## PDF to Text & Markdown: Bulk Extractor for AI and RAG

Paste PDF links and get clean, readable text, ready for ChatGPT, Claude, a RAG index or plain
analysis.

- **Reading order rebuilt:** words joined into lines, lines into paragraphs, wrapped lines merged
- **Markdown with headings:** larger-font lines become `#` / `##` headings
- **Metadata:** title, author, subject, creator app, created and modified dates
- **Counts:** total pages, pages with text, words and approximate tokens
- **Per-page text** (optional), handy for citations ("see page 4")
- **Scanned PDFs flagged:** pages that are only images are detected and not charged
- **Priced per page with text**, no start fee

### Who it's for

- **AI and RAG builders:** index reports, papers, manuals and contracts.
- **Researchers and analysts:** pull text from many PDFs into one table.
- **Operations teams:** read the text of forms and documents in bulk.

### Input

| Option | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| PDF links | – | Direct links to PDF files |
| Output format | Markdown | Markdown, plain text or both |
| Also give text per page | off | Adds a `pages` array |
| Max pages per PDF | 200 | Read at most this many pages |

### Output

Real result (first 3 pages of a well-known paper, shortened):

```json
{
  "url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.03762",
  "status": "ok",
  "title": null,
  "createdAt": "2024-04-10",
  "totalPages": 15,
  "pagesExtracted": 3,
  "pagesWithText": 3,
  "likelyScanned": false,
  "wordCount": 1315,
  "markdown": "…\n\n# Attention Is All You Need\n\n…\n\nAbstract\n\nThe dominant sequence transduction models are based on …"
}
```

| status | meaning |
|---|---|
| `ok` | Extracted. |
| `unreachable` | The link didn't load. Not charged. |
| `not_pdf` | The link isn't a PDF. Not charged. |
| `password_protected` / `unreadable` | Can't be opened. Not charged. |
| `too_large` | Over 100 MB. Not charged. |

### Use it from your AI agent (MCP)

Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients can call this tool directly through Apify's MCP server. Add it as
an MCP server / connector:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=swiftkit/pdf-text",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>" }
    }
  }
}
```

Then just ask, for example: *"Extract the text of this PDF and list its main findings: https://…/report.pdf"*. Each call is billed like a normal run.

### Pricing

You pay **per page that has text**. Scanned (image-only) pages and failed PDFs are free. See the
Pricing tab.

### Limits, honestly

- **No OCR.** Scanned PDFs (photos of paper) have no text layer; they're flagged with
  `likelyScanned: true` and not charged, but no text comes out.
- **Tables are flattened** into lines of text, and complex layouts like multi-column forms can mix
  columns. Ordinary single-column documents, reports and most papers come out clean.
- Title and author come from the PDF's own metadata, which many PDFs leave empty.
- Links must point straight at the PDF file (not a viewer page or a login).

### More tools from SwiftKit

- [Website to Markdown for AI](https://apify.com/swiftkit/web-to-markdown): clean page content as Markdown, with token counts and RAG chunks
- [Sitemap Extractor & Broken Link Checker](https://apify.com/swiftkit/sitemap-urls): every URL from a site’s sitemaps, plus 404 and redirect checks
- [RSS Feed Reader](https://apify.com/swiftkit/rss-feeds): news, blogs and podcasts from any feed or website, only new items

### Questions?

Open an issue on the Issues tab.

# Actor input Schema

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

Direct links to PDF files, one per line.

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

Markdown keeps detected headings; plain text is just the words.

## `perPage` (type: `boolean`):

Adds a pages array with each page's text, handy for citations.

## `maxPagesPerPdf` (type: `integer`):

Read at most this many pages of each PDF.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Parallel downloads.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "pdfUrls": [
    "https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.03762"
  ],
  "output": "markdown",
  "perPage": false,
  "maxPagesPerPdf": 200,
  "maxConcurrency": 3
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

One row per PDF.

# 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://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.03762"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("swiftkit/pdf-text").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://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.03762"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("swiftkit/pdf-text").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://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.03762"
  ]
}' |
apify call swiftkit/pdf-text --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/ECWeFAP1nhHZifhPg/builds/m8ShEU66P31iNTmVt/openapi.json