document-processing

# Document Processing > **Source:** This skill is adapted from **[Anthropic's document-processing skill](https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/document-processing)** > document processing skills (pdf, docx, pptx, xlsx) for Claude Code and AI agents. Create, edit, and analyze office documents including PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and Excel spreadsheets. --- ## Quick Reference: Which Tool to Use | Task | Document Type | Best Tool | |------|---------------|-----------| | Extract text | PDF | `pdfplumber`, `pdftotext` | | Merge/split | PDF | `pypdf`, `qpdf` | | Fill forms | PDF | `pdf-lib` (JS), `pypdf` | | Create new | PDF | `reportlab` | | OCR scanned | PDF | `pytesseract` + `pdf2image` | | Extract text | DOCX | `pandoc`, `markitdown` | | Create new | DOCX | `docx-js` (JS) | | Edit existing | DOCX | OOXML (unpack/edit/pack) | | Extract text | PPTX | `markitdown` | | Create new | PPTX | `html2pptx`, `PptxGenJS` | | Edit existing | PPTX | OOXML (unpack/edit/pack) | | Data analysis | XLSX | `pandas` | | Formulas/formatting | XLSX | `openpyxl` | --- ## PDF Processing ### Text Extraction ```python import pdfplumber # Extract text with layout preservation with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf: for page in pdf.pages: text = page.extract_text() print(text) ``` ### Table Extraction ```python import pdfplumber import pandas as pd with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf: all_tables = [] for page in pdf.pages: tables = page.extract_tables() for table in tables: if table: df = pd.DataFrame(table[1:], columns=table[0]) all_tables.append(df) # Combine all tables if all_tables: combined_df = pd.concat(all_tables, ignore_index=True) combined_df.to_excel("extracted_tables.xlsx", index=False) ``` ### Merge PDFs ```python from pypdf import PdfWriter, PdfReader writer = PdfWriter() for pdf_file in ["doc1.pdf", "doc2.pdf", "doc3.pdf"]: reader = PdfReader(pdf_file) for page in reader.pages: writer.add_page(page) with open("merged.pdf", "wb") as output: writer.write(output) ``` ### Split PDF ```python from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter reader = PdfReader("input.pdf") for i, page in enumerate(reader.pages): writer = PdfWriter() writer.add_page(page) with open(f"page_{i+1}.pdf", "wb") as output: writer.write(output) ``` ### Rotate Pages ```python from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter reader = PdfReader("input.pdf") writer = PdfWriter() page = reader.pages[0] page.rotate(90) # Rotate 90 degrees clockwise writer.add_page(page) with open("rotated.pdf", "wb") as output: writer.write(output) ``` ### OCR Scanned PDFs ```python # Requires: pip install pytesseract pdf2image import pytesseract from pdf2image import convert_from_path # Convert PDF to images images = convert_from_path('scanned.pdf') # OCR each page text = "" for i, image in enumerate(images): text += f"Page {i+1}:\n" text += pytesseract.image_to_string(image) text += "\n\n" print(text) ``` ### Add Watermark ```python from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter watermark = PdfReader("watermark.pdf").pages[0] reader = PdfReader("document.pdf") writer = PdfWriter() for page in reader.pages: page.merge_page(watermark) writer.add_page(page) with open("watermarked.pdf", "wb") as output: writer.write(output) ``` ### Password Protection ```python from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter reader = PdfReader("input.pdf") writer = PdfWriter() for page in reader.pages: writer.add_page(page) writer.encrypt("userpassword", "ownerpassword") with open("encrypted.pdf", "wb") as output: writer.write(output) ``` ### Create PDF with ReportLab ```python from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter from reportlab.platypus import SimpleDocTemplate, Paragraph, Spacer, PageBreak from reportlab.lib.styles import getSampleStyleSheet doc = SimpleDocTemplate("report.pdf", pagesize=letter) styles = getSampleStyleSheet() story = [] # Add content title = Paragraph("Report Title", styles['Title']) story.append(title) story.append(Spacer(1, 12)) body = Paragraph("This is the body of the report. " * 20, styles['Normal']) story.append(body) story.append(PageBreak()) # Page 2 story.append(Paragraph("Page 2", styles['Heading1'])) story.append(Paragraph("Content for page 2", styles['Normal'])) doc.build(story) ``` ### Command Line Tools ```bash # Extract text (poppler-utils) pdftotext input.pdf output.txt pdftotext -layout input.pdf output.txt # Preserve layout # Merge PDFs (qpdf) qpdf --empty --pages file1.pdf file2.pdf -- merged.pdf # Split pages qpdf input.pdf --pages . 1-5 -- pages1-5.pdf # Rotate pages qpdf input.pdf output.pdf --rotate=+90:1 # Remove password qpdf --password=mypassword --decrypt encrypted.pdf decrypted.pdf # Extract images pdfimages -j input.pdf output_prefix ``` --- ## Word Document (DOCX) Processing ### Text Extraction ```bash # Convert to markdown with pandoc pandoc document.docx -o output.md # With tracked changes preserved pandoc --track-changes=all document.docx -o output.md ``` ### Create New Document (docx-js) ```javascript import { Document, Paragraph, TextRun, HeadingLevel, Packer } from 'docx'; import * as fs from 'fs'; const doc = new Document({ sections: [{ properties: {}, children: [ new Paragraph({ text: "Document Title", heading: HeadingLevel.HEADING_1, }), new Paragraph({ children: [ new TextRun("This is a "), new TextRun({ text: "bold", bold: true, }), new TextRun(" word in a paragraph."), ], }), new Paragraph({ text: "This is another paragraph.", }), ], }], }); // Export to file const buffer = await Packer.toBuffer(doc); fs.writeFileSync("output.docx", buffer); ``` ### Create Document with Tables ```javascript import { Document, Paragraph, Table, TableRow, TableCell, Packer } from 'docx'; const table = new Table({ rows: [ new TableRow({ children: [ new TableCell({ children: [new Paragraph("Header 1")] }), new TableCell({ children: [new Paragraph("Header 2")] }), new TableCell({ children: [new Paragraph("Header 3")] }), ], }), new TableRow({ children: [ new TableCell({ children: [new Paragraph("Cell 1")] }), new TableCell({ children: [new Paragraph("Cell 2")] }), new TableCell({ children: [new Paragraph("Cell 3")] }), ], }), ], }); const doc = new Document({ sections: [{ children: [ new Paragraph({ text: "Table Example", heading: HeadingLevel.HEADING_1 }), table, ], }], }); ``` ### Edit Existing Document (OOXML) For complex edits, work with raw OOXML: 1. **Unpack the document:** ```bash python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py document.docx unpacked/ ``` 2. **Edit XML files** (primarily `word/document.xml`) 3. **Validate and pack:** ```bash python ooxml/scripts/validate.py unpacked/ --original document.docx python ooxml/scripts/pack.py unpacked/ output.docx ``` ### Tracked Changes Workflow For document review with track changes: ```bash # 1. Get current state pandoc --track-changes=all document.docx -o current.md # 2. Unpack python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py document.docx unpacked/ # 3. Edit using tracked change patterns # Use <w:ins> for insertions, <w:del> for deletions # 4. Pack final document python ooxml/scripts/pack.py unpacked/ reviewed.docx ``` --- ## PowerPoint (PPTX) Processing ### Text Extraction ```bash python -m markitdown presentation.pptx ``` ### Create New Presentation (PptxGenJS) ```javascript import PptxGenJS from 'pptxgenjs'; const pptx = new PptxGenJS(); // Slide 1 - Title const slide1 = pptx.addSlide(); slide1.addText("Presentation Title", { x: 1, y: 2, w: 8, h: 1.5, fontSize: 36, bold: true, color: "363636", align: "center", }); slide1.addText("Subtitle goes here", { x: 1, y: 3.5, w: 8, h: 0.5, fontSize: 18, color: "666666", align: "center", }); // Slide 2 - Content const slide2 = pptx.addSlide(); slide2.addText("Key Points", { x: 0.5, y: 0.5, w: 9, h: 0.8, fontSize: 28, bold: true, }); slide2.addText([ { text: "• First important point\n", options: { bullet: true } }, { text: "• Second important point\n", options: { bullet: true } }, { text: "• Third important point\n", options: { bullet: true } }, ], { x: 0.5, y: 1.5, w: 9, h: 3, fontSize: 18, }); // Slide 3 - Chart const slide3 = pptx.addSlide(); slide3.addChart(pptx.ChartType.bar, [ { name: "Q1", labels: ["Jan", "Feb", "Mar"], values: [100, 200, 300] }, { name: "Q2", labels: ["Apr", "May", "Jun"], values: [150, 250, 350] }, ], { x: 1, y: 1, w: 8, h: 4, showLegend: true, legendPos: "b", }); // Save pptx.writeFile("output.pptx"); ``` ### Edit Existing Presentation (OOXML) ```bash # 1. Unpack python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py presentation.pptx unpacked/ # 2. Key files: # - ppt/slides/slide1.xml, slide2.xml, etc. # - ppt/notesSlides/ for speaker notes # - ppt/theme/ for styling # 3. Validate and pack python ooxml/scripts/validate.py unpacked/ --original presentation.pptx python ooxml/scripts/pack.py unpacked/ output.pptx ``` ### Create Thumbnail Grid ```bash # Create visual overview of all slides python scripts/thumbnail.py presentation.pptx --cols 4 ``` ### Convert Slides to Images ```bash # Convert to PDF first soffice --headless --convert-to pdf presentation.pptx # Then PDF to images pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 presentation.pdf slide # Creates slide-1.jpg, slide-2.jpg, etc. ``` --- ## Excel (XLSX) Processing ### Data Analysis with Pandas ```python import pandas as pd # Read Excel df = pd.read_excel('file.xlsx') # Default: first sheet all_sheets = pd.read_excel('file.xlsx', sheet_name=None) # All sheets as dict # Analyze df.head() # Preview data