Android- Get text from PDF

Question

I want to read text from a PDF file present in SD card.How can we get text from a PDF file which is stored in sd card?

I tried like:

public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity implements TextToSpeech.OnInitListener {

    private TextToSpeech tts;
    private String line = null;

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        tts = new TextToSpeech(getApplicationContext(), this);

        final TextView text1 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textView1);

        findViewById(R.id.button1).setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

            private String[] arr;

            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                File sdcard = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory();

                // Get the text file

                File file = new File(sdcard, "test.pdf");

                // ob.pathh
                // Read text from file

                StringBuilder text = new StringBuilder();
                try {
                    BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new                            FileReader(file));

                    // int i=0;
                    List<String> lines = new ArrayList<String>();

                    while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
                        lines.add(line);
                        // arr[i]=line;
                        // i++;
                        text.append(line);
                        text.append('\n');
                    }
                    for (String string : lines) {
                        tts.speak(string, TextToSpeech.SUCCESS, null);
                    }
                    arr = lines.toArray(new String[lines.size()]);
                    System.out.println(arr.length);
                    text1.setText(text);

                } catch (Exception e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }

            }
        });

    }

    @Override
    public void onInit(int status) {
        if (status == TextToSpeech.SUCCESS) {
            int result = tts.setLanguage(Locale.US);
            if (result == TextToSpeech.LANG_MISSING_DATA || result == TextToSpeech.LANG_NOT_SUPPORTED) {
                Log.e("TTS", "This Language is not supported");
            } else {
                // speakOut();
            }

        } else {
            Log.e("TTS", "Initilization Failed!");
        }
    }

}

Note: It's working fine if the file is text file (test.txt) but not working for pdf (test.pdf)

But here the text is not getting from PDF as it is, it's getting like byte code. How can I achieve this?

Thanks in advance.

PDF file format is not plain text. You'll need a parser library like [PDFBox](https://pdfbox.apache.org/) to extract texts from the file. — TactMayers, Apr 21 '15 at 05:55
Hello @ShylendraMadda, Hope you doing well! Act i'm also facing the same prob. I'm unable to extract the text from pdf. Plz help me.. — Namrata, Jan 03 '19 at 14:25
@Namrata you check this answer it's worked https://stackoverflow.com/a/42887336/2462531 — Shailendra Madda, Jan 03 '19 at 14:40

score 23 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 19 '17 at 13:47

23

I have got the solution with iText.

Gradle,

compile 'com.itextpdf:itextg:5.5.10'

Java,

  try {
            String parsedText="";
            PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(yourPdfPath);
            int n = reader.getNumberOfPages();
            for (int i = 0; i <n ; i++) {
                parsedText   = parsedText+PdfTextExtractor.getTextFromPage(reader, i+1).trim()+"\n"; //Extracting the content from the different pages
            }
            System.out.println(parsedText);
            reader.close();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println(e);
        }

answered Mar 19 '17 at 13:47

REMITH

1,049
12
12

1

what is the path format here? I have used `/storage/emulated/0/Download/abc.pdf` but it is giving error – Durgesh Kumar Oct 10 '17 at 09:09
What error you are getting? Have you added storage permission? – REMITH Oct 11 '17 at 12:56
yeah I got the solution, there was permission error – Durgesh Kumar Oct 13 '17 at 11:04
is this free?or you have to pay? – ora Apr 26 '18 at 16:26
It's free. No payment required. – REMITH Apr 28 '18 at 00:48
I am passing this path but getting no data in return: /document/9016-4EF8:New Folder/nuts_bolts_blockchain.pdf – Sahil Oct 30 '18 at 07:20
1

@Sahil use a file chooser to allocate file location. – Shihab Uddin Nov 13 '18 at 14:55
Hi guys! I'm receiving this error: `java.io.IOException: /storage/emulated/0/Download/sample.pdf not found as file or resource`, but I have sure the file is over there and the app has the right permissions. Any ideas what's wrong? My code is exactly as the answer – dm707 Apr 25 '19 at 17:42
iText is open source but not necessarily free. You have to pay for a licence if you want to use it in a commercial app. – Nikos Hidalgo Jan 03 '20 at 14:12
@dm707 Have you solved your issue? I am also facing the same problem. Could you help? – Jan 16 '21 at 07:33
Is there any alternative? I got an email from itext for purchasing license. I have to remove itext in next version – Tushar Mate Mar 26 '21 at 13:55

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

2

PDF format is not your normal text file.. You need to do a little more research on PDFs this is the best answer you'll get How to read pdf in my android application?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

Community

1
1

answered Apr 21 '15 at 07:08

BSathvik

95
1
6

1

Finally I can able to show that PDF but How can I get text from that PDF? – Shailendra Madda Apr 21 '15 at 08:29
@ShylendraMadda u gt the data from pdf ? – kartheeki j Dec 21 '18 at 11:09

Android- Get text from PDF

2 Answers2

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