Extract non-formatted Tabular Text

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   Can't find any site to upload the example PDF that I'm trying to process without our Firewall blocking it (tried docdroid, scribd, dropbox) so the best I can do is upload an image.

http://s5.postimg.org/5hncgugsn/Example_PDF.jpg

The text "looks" like it is separated by TABS, but there is no formatting.  When I try to use the DAExtractPageText and DAExtractBlockText functions, instead of the <Field Name>: <Field Value> aligning with each, they are all over the place.

I also tried all the differenet options in DASetTextExtractionOptions to no avail.

How can I extract this unformatted text so the <Field Name>: <Field Value> align with each other
eg.  Surname: TEST etc.

Thanks Chris.

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chrisreed Members Profile Find Members Posts Team Player Joined: 29 Apr 13 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 35	Post Options Post Reply Quote chrisreed Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Extract non-formatted Tabular Text Posted: 21 Jan 15 at 10:16AM
	Can't find any site to upload the example PDF that I'm trying to process without our Firewall blocking it (tried docdroid, scribd, dropbox) so the best I can do is upload an image. http://s5.postimg.org/5hncgugsn/Example_PDF.jpg The text "looks" like it is separated by TABS, but there is no formatting. When I try to use the DAExtractPageText and DAExtractBlockText functions, instead of the <Field Name>: <Field Value> aligning with each, they are all over the place. I also tried all the differenet options in DASetTextExtractionOptions to no avail. How can I extract this unformatted text so the <Field Name>: <Field Value> align with each other eg. Surname: TEST etc. Thanks Chris.

AndrewC Members Profile Find Members Posts Moderator Group Joined: 08 Dec 10 Location: Geelong, Aust Status: Offline Points: 841	Post Options Post Reply Quote AndrewC Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jan 15 at 10:18AM
	Chris, PDF's file do not have TAB characters, words, sentences or paragraphs. Text is drawn at a specific x and y location. Extraction attempts to collect all the drawn text but is not always perfect. GetPageText of DAExtractPageText using option 7 will be your best chance. Andrew.

chrisreed Members Profile Find Members Posts Team Player Joined: 29 Apr 13 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 35	Post Options Post Reply Quote chrisreed Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Feb 15 at 7:10AM
	Hi Andrew, Sorry for the lateness in my reply, but I never received an e-mail that you had posted a reply Believe me I tried all the Extraction Options (from 1 to 11) and none of them were any good. So instead of having the fields/values go across the page I just had them going down the page as follows: <Field Name> <Field Value> Surname: Tester Firstname: Kenneth DOB: 29 Mar 1928 Exam Date: 30 Jan 2015 07:46 Site ID: RPH etc.... and used the Extraction Option (5) - Sort text blocks based on top left position. This worked a lot better, in that this option returned most of the <Field Names> first and then the <Field Values> next, but some still got mixed up so that I couldn't associate all the correct <Field Name> with the matching <Field Value>.

chrisreed Members Profile Find Members Posts Team Player Joined: 29 Apr 13 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 35	Post Options Post Reply Quote chrisreed Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Feb 15 at 10:17AM
	Sorry Andrew I was too quick with my reply. Yes if I use Option 7 it matches very well what is on the PDF file - thanks for your help. Chris