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Tables in PDF files

I have come across so many public data repositories that hold data in PDF format. Other websites have tables within documents such as annual reports etc., also in PDF format. A data source for PDFs or tables from PDFs would be awesome!

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    Gogula Aryalingam shared this idea  ·   ·  Flag idea as inappropriate…  ·  Admin →
    started  ·  AdminAmanda Cofsky (Program Manager, Microsoft Power BI) responded  · 

    Updating the status to be more accurate. We have now shipped a preview of this feature in our September release (https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-desktop-september-2018-feature-summary/#pdf) and an update to it in our November release (https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-desktop-november-2018-feature-summary/#pdf). Make sure to try out the preview and give us feedback if you haven’t already.

    Show previous admin responses (3)

    274 comments

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      • Mattia Russo commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        Hello Everybody,

        the pdf connector works only for PBI Desktop. When i try to use a Gateway on a dataset that use a pdf Connector the Gateway doesn't work!!!! Are you working on it? When will fix this bug?
        thanks in advanced!
        Mattia

      • Tiffany commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        This is great but I've come across where the data becomes corrupted and produces errors in the editor.

        My source is a folder and I have 2 PDFs sent to me daily that I drop in that folder. The PDFs are identical except for the dollar amounts. Inconsistently; BI will corrupt one or a few of the documents when I refresh the dashboard.

      • DirkV commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        Feature is working fine in my applications.
        When will this be shipped with Excel Get & Transform since I prepare my data in Excel and I have to log the data imported?

      • Terry commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        It would be good if this could also read the data from formatted fields within the PDF. I believe they maybe in a fdf format. But as they are named fields it should be relatively easy to show a list of fields by column. And let you import like other files. Currently the data is not imported at all

      • Sharon Maxon commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        Beyond just importing a chart from a PDF, we need to be able to import a chart in a collection of PDFS with a consistent format in a folder. For example, a report in a standardized format is received on a weekly basis. We need to be able save the PDFs for a SharePoint Online folder and then let Power BI find each chart to append them together. This is a powerful feature that work for multiple Excel files in a folder, so replicate the same with PDFs.

      • Niko Suomi commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        Can this read hand-written tables, if those are scanned and then saved as pdf-file?

      • KrisW commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        SEPT 2018 UPDATE: I am testing the PDF Import/Connector & have already found minor issues. Who/How/Where do I report?


        IN BRIEF - I have "sample data" G/L Ledger 51 pages. PBI is not bringing in column headers which is not a big deal, but in skipping the headers it is merging any data where there is only 1 space between columns. EXAMPLE: PERIOD & SOURCE of 1 PJ became 1PJ & ACCOUNT_NUM & ACCOUNT_DESC of 21200 TRADE COLLECTORS became 21200TRADE COLLECTORS - these 2 are easy enough to "split columns" to fix.

        HOWEVER, AMOUNT & DESCRIPTION were also merged so instead of -409.09 Pre-conversion purchase, I have -409.09Pre-conversion purchase. There is not a decimal in every amount & the amount total digits can vary. While it is highly unlikely that our company will connect to PDFs on a regular basis, we feel that this is an important feature for PBI.

        Our own software has no problems with this sample file. Tableau merges fields same as PBI, but at least it leaves the space so that the fields can be "split"

      • Sam commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        @Miguel
        The summit is over - and It is Mid 2018 - when in the PDF connector scheduled

      • Randy commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        This is obviously a much needed data source, any update on its release will be appreciated

      • Ryan commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        I'm also looking forward to this feature. We currently do bluebeam take-off work for construction, after which I export to CSV and run through Power BI. I would love to get more granular access to the data contained within.

      • Dave commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        Hey Miquel, can you provide an update? Surely your comment in August for one of the top ranked ideas warrants an update. What does Planned actually mean?
        We are now in April, can you comment that it will or won't be released in the May release?
        Come on give us a bone here...

      • AJ commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        Any update on the ETA for this? Really looking forward to it!

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