How to Convert PDF to JSON from a File in Python using PDF.co Web API

This tutorial and the sample source code explain how to convert PDF to JSON in Python from a file using PDF.co Web API. Therefore, the users can apply PDF.co Web API having various beneficial tools to manipulate, convert, extract, split and merge data.

The following simple and easy-to-understand source code shows the users how to merge two PDF files in Python using the Merge functionality and convert the result into JSON using PDF to JSON functionality using the PDF.co API. This sample code in Python for PDF.co Web API consists of various functionalities and options to perform while calling the API to implement the Merge and PDF to JSON part. The users can copy and paste the sample Python code into their project. After performing the copy and paste, the next step is to compile the project and click Run. The users can check their respective data and the production environment to be fully accommodated by the quick implementation and ready-to-use PDF.co API.

It is important to note that the PDF.co Web API is available on the website. Also, there are other code samples available to help the users with their Python application included in the trial version.

Below is the step-by-step guide to merge two PDF files and then to convert PDF to JSON in Python.

1. Import and Variable Declaration
2. Merge Function
3. Main Function
4. JSON Output
5. Function Explanation
6. Converting the Merged File into JSON
7. Final Output
8. PDF to JSON Explanation
9. Tutorial Demos
10. Complete Video Guide

1. Import and Variable Declaration

1. The first step is to import requests and time modules required to hit endpoints and control time-lapse.
2. The next step is to define the API endpoint given in the PDF.co API documentation. In the example code, the URL variable represents the merge API’s endpoint.
3. Then, declare the api_key variable with the provided API key when the user signs up into PDF.co.
4. Upload the files that the user wants to merge on google drive, dropbox, or PDF.co internal storage and get the link to the files.
5. Store the files in the separate variables and concatenate those variables using comma ‘,’ as a delimiter in the merging order. For instance, for “ file = file1 + ‘,’ + ‘file2”, the API  will append file 2 to file 1 and create the merged output file.

2. Merge Function

1. Create a post request using the imported requests module to send the POST request to the API endpoint.
2. In the requests function, provide the API key in the headers to authorize the request.
3. Then, provide the URL and other parameters in the JSON object in the data field of the requests function.
4. Store the API response in the variable and check if the status code of that response is successful or not. Generally, a 200 hundred status code means that the request was successful.
5. If the request was successful, convert the response to a JSON object and print it on the user’s screen, and the output will contain the URL to the merged file.
6. If the request was unsuccessful, print that the request was unsuccessful and repeat steps one to four thrice. If the request is still unsuccessful, close the program after informing the user that his request has failed.

Note: The time.sleep() delays the request initiation if the endpoint considers the repeated requests an attack or the massive traffic halts it from sending a successful response.

3. Main Function

1. The main function is the primary function of any program from where the execution begins. Therefore, call the merging() function in the main function to merge the two PDF files.
2. The users can pass the files as the parameters to this function and use them inside it or declare them globally.

Below is the sample code to merge two PDF files using PDF.co API:

# importing module
import requests
import time

#  API endpoint to merge pdfs
url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/merge"

# defining parameter
api_key ="************************************"

# files to be merged
file1 = "https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DvAV1iRpVVc1TxsQ2BcX_NJnapEaU41w/view?usp=sharing"
file2 = "https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sPFzo2EZjt190cpirdsstJ60fq3nbhel/view?usp=sharing"

# combining file URLs, separated by comma
file = file1 + ',' + file2

# function to merge to pdf files
def merging():

tries =3
# try at least three time if the request gets failed
while (tries >= 0):

# post request to the API endpoint to merge to pdf files
response = requests.post(url,
headers={
"x-api-key": api_key
},
data={
"url": file
}
)

# checking if the request is successful or not
if response.status_code == 200:
print(response)
print(response.json())
return
else:
tries = tries -1

# sleep for some time
time.sleep(0.5)
print("request failed, trying again")

print("request failed, returning")
# file's main function
def main():
merging()
main()

4. JSON Output

<Response [200]>

{'url': 'https://pdf-temp-files.s3.amazonaws.com/43a10d61095b47698fcb03102b0e6995/view.pdf', 'pageCount': 2, 'error': False, 'status': 200, 'name': 'view.pdf', 'remainingCredits': 250, 'credits': 4}

5. Function Explanation

The “response 200” in the above output is the response’s status code, and the JSON object below it is the JSON response of the API. The JSON object contains the URL to the merged file, the page count in the output file, the error report of the merging process, merge status, and the merged file name. Moreover, it contains the API’s remaining credits and the used credits to inform the user of his credits.

Output Screenshot

6. Converting the Merged File into JSON

Below is the step-by-step guide to convert the merged file obtained in the above example into JSON:

1. Store the URL gotten from the merged API response in a variable called file_url.
2. Define a function to convert PDF to JSON, and pass the file_url as its parameter.
3. In the pdf_to_json() function, send the post request to the pdf_to_json API’s endpoint, stored in the url_json variable.
4. In the request function, provide the API key in the headers and the file_url in the data.
5. Store the response in a variable and check if the request was successful or not using its status code.
6. If the request is successful, convert the response to a JSON object and print it on the user’s screen, and the output will contain the URL to the required JSON.
7. If the request is unsuccessful, print that the request was unsuccessful and repeat steps one to four thrice. If the request is still unsuccessful, close the program after informing the user that his request has failed.
8. The users can directly call the pdf_to_json() function from the main function and convert any PDF file to the JSON format. Moreover, the users can choose to convert only a part of a PDF file using the data parameters of the converting API.
9. Change the tries variable to any value to set the request limits to the endpoints. Additionally, the users can manipulate the time.sleep() function inside both functions, i.e., pdf_to_json and merging, to set the time delay between the two requests.

The users can obtain their respective API keys by logging in to PDF.co and getting their free trial credits or buying them. They can then replace the asterisks “*” with the respective API keys.

Below is the sample code to convert the PDF file into JSON using PDF.co API:

# importing modules
import requests
import time

#  API endpoint to merge pdfs
url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/merge"

#  API endpoint to convert pdf to json
url_json = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/json2"

# defining parameter
api_key = "****************************************"

# files to be merged
file1 = "https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DvAV1iRpVVc1TxsQ2BcX_NJnapEaU41w/view?usp=sharing"
file2 = "https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sPFzo2EZjt190cpirdsstJ60fq3nbhel/view?usp=sharing"

# combining file urls, separated by comma
file = file1 + ',' + file2
def pdf_to_json(file_url):
tries = 3

# try atleast three time if the reqeust gets failed
while (tries >= 0):

# post request to the API endpoint to merge to pdf files
response = requests.post(url_json,
headers={
"x-api-key": api_key
},
data={
"url": file_url
}
)

# checking if the request is successful or not
if response.status_code == 200:
print(response)
response_json = response.json()
print(response_json)
return
else:
tries = tries -1

# sleep for some time
time.sleep(0.5)
print("request failed, trying again")
print("request failed, returning")

# function to merge to pdf files
def merging():
tries =3

# try at least three times if the request gets failed
while (tries >= 0):

# post request to the API endpoint to merge to pdf files
response = requests.post(url,
headers={
"x-api-key": api_key
},
data={
"url": file
}
)

# checking if the request is successful or not
if response.status_code == 200:
print(response)
response_json = response.json()
print(response_json)
file_url = response_json['url']
print(file_url)
pdf_to_json(file_url)
return
else:
tries = tries -1

# sleep for some time
time.sleep(0.5)
print("request failed, trying again")
print("request failed, returning")

# file's main function
def main():
merging()
main()

7. Final Output

The output of converting to JSON function:

<Response [200]>

{'url': 'https://pdf-temp-files.s3.amazonaws.com/40ba2d7c5083470b8d6dee86170c2e3b/view.json', 'pageCount': 2, 'error': False, 'status': 200, 'name': 'view.json', 'remainingCredits': 194, 'credits': 56}

8. PDF to JSON Explanation

The “response 200” in the above output is the response’s status code, and the JSON object below it is the JSON response of the API. The JSON object contains the URL to the JSON output, the page count in the output file, the error report of the merging process, merge status, and the merged file name. Moreover, the merging endpoint contains the API’s remaining credits and the used credits to inform the user of his credits.

Output Screenshot

The response in the below screenshot is just a sample of the JSON response available after converting the PDF data to JSON. As the response was very long, the users can view some portion of the response as a sample.

9. Tutorial Demos

Below is the gif of the compilation and running of code using the Merge and PDF to JSON API in Python.

• Use this code to merge PDF files in Python:

• Use this code to extract PDF to JSON files in Python:

Video Guide

Here’s a short demo guide showing how to convert PDF to JSON in Python using an uploaded file and PDF.co Web API. That’s just a sample workflow and programming code that can be used to parse PDF in Python.