Browse AI robots interact with HTML web pages. PDFs use a completely different format that robots can't navigate or click through. However, you can convert a web page into HTML and then use Browse AI to extract the content.
💡 Converting to HTML creates a webpage structure that Browse AI can work with.
Workaround: How to extract data from a PDF file
Step 1: Convert PDF to HTML
You'll need to convert the file into HTML, there are many options:
Method | Best for | Options |
Online converters | Quick, one-time extraction | • Adobe PDF to HTML |
Desktop software | Regular conversions | • Adobe Acrobat Pro (paid) |
Programming tools | Bulk/automated conversion | • pdf2htmlEX |
Step 2: Host the HTML file
Make your HTML accessible to Browse AI:
Web hosting: upload to any web server.
Cloud storage: Google Drive, Dropbox (with public link).
Temporary hosting: use services like JSFiddle or CodePen.
Local testing: use local server (for development).
Step 3: Create your robot
Copy the URL of your hosted HTML file
Create new robot in Browse AI
Use the HTML URL as your Origin URL
Train normally - the HTML appears like any webpage
Extract your data using Capture Text or Capture List
Step 4: Export your data
Extract to your preferred format:
CSV for spreadsheets
JSON for applications
Direct integration via API
What works well vs. what doesn't
✅ Works well
PDF type | Success rate | Notes |
Text documents | High | Reports, articles, books |
Simple tables | Good | Basic row/column structure |
Forms | Good | If text-based, not scanned |
Invoices/Receipts | Good | Structured text data |
Lists and directories | High | Contact lists, catalogs |
⚠️ Limited success
PDF type | Issues | Alternative |
Complex tables | Layout breaks | Try different converters |
Multi-column layouts | Text mixes together | Manual cleanup needed |
Charts/Graphs | Convert as images only | Can't extract data points |
Heavily designed | Formatting lost | Focus on text content |
❌ Won't work
Scanned PDFs (images, not text) - need OCR first
Protected PDFs - must remove protection
Image-heavy PDFs - images don't convert to data
Embedded forms - interactive elements lost
Conversion tips for better results
Choosing the right converter
For simple text PDFs:
Any free online converter works
Try PDF2Go or SmallPDF first
For PDFs with tables:
Adobe's converter preserves structure better
Calibre handles complex layouts
Test 2-3 converters and compare
Improving conversion quality
Pre-process PDFs:
Remove unnecessary pages
Split complex PDFs into sections
Ensure text is selectable (not scanned)
Post-process HTML:
Clean up formatting
Remove conversion artifacts
Fix broken tables
Test extraction:
Start with a small section
Verify data quality
Adjust approach if needed
Alternative approaches
When PDF conversion isn't working
Option 1: Look for the source
Many PDFs are generated from web pages
Find the original data source
Extract directly from there
Option 2: Use PDF-specific tools
Tabula (for tables)
Apache PDFBox
Commercial PDF extraction services
Option 3: Manual extraction
Copy/paste to spreadsheet
Use Adobe's table extraction
OCR for scanned documents
For recurring PDF extraction needs
If you regularly extract from PDFs:
Set up automated conversion
Script the PDF to HTML process
Host HTML files automatically
Run Browse AI on schedule
Consider alternatives:
Request data in better format
Check for API access
Use specialized PDF tools