Read and compare PDFs in Python

Python functions that read a PDF as Markdown, HTML, JSON or text, list its pages and fields, outline it and compare two versions.

These functions read a PDF and return what they find; none of them writes a file.

Function	What it does	Returns
`export(path, format="markdown", pages=, tables=, ocr=True)`	Markdown, HTML or JSON text: headings, tables, charts as data, OCR for scans	`str`
`export_json(path, …)`	The structure as a dict: title, pages with blocks, sections	`dict`
`export_pages(path, …)`	Markdown per page: `[{"page": 1, "markdown": …}]`	`list[dict]`
`info(path)`	Page count, page sizes and rotation, form fields, properties	`PdfInfo`
`list_files(folder=".")`	The PDFs in a folder, with sizes and dates	`Folder`
`read_text(path, pages=, max_chars=)`	The text layer, page by page (no OCR)	`Text`
`extract_structure(path, pages=, format=, max_chars=)`	Markdown, HTML or JSON plus the outline, capped at `max_chars`	`Structure`
`outline(path, format="markdown"\|"json")`	The outline, with the pages each section covers	`Outline`
`compare(before, after, max_chars=20000)`	The words that changed, page by page, marked `[-old-]` and `{+new+}`	`Comparison`

Examples

Python

import superpdf

markdown = superpdf.export("report.pdf", tables="html")   # merged header cells kept
info = superpdf.info("report.pdf")
print(info["pages"], [field["name"] for field in info.get("forms", [])])

print(superpdf.outline("report.pdf")["content"])          # - Summary (pp. 1–2) …

changes = superpdf.compare("contract-v1.pdf", "contract-v2.pdf")
print(changes["summary"])  # 1 of 4 pages changed: page 3.
for page in changes["pages"]:
    if page["status"] != "same":
        print(page["page"], page["changes"])

All functions are listed on All functions.