Turn a PDF into JSON with its sections and fields kept in order
Convert a PDF to JSON online. Headings, lists and tables become keys, arrays and nested objects, with names, figures and dates kept as written.
This preview shows the first 350 words and does not keep your file.
Need a different result? Turn anything into anything: drop any file, pick what you want out of it.Try it →A PDF stores text for display, not as data, so copying it into an app or database means rebuilding the structure by hand. This page reads your PDF and writes one JSON object that follows its sections, lists and tables, with snake_case keys and nested groups where the document has them. Values stay as the PDF gives them, and anything the PDF leaves out is set to null.
What you get
Keeps the PDF's structure
Sections become top-level keys, numbered or bulleted lists become arrays, and groups of related lines become nested objects, in the same order as the PDF.
Keeps values as written
Names, figures, units, dates and identifiers are copied as they appear in the PDF, so 14 March 2024 or 42.5 L/s is not reformatted or rounded.
Uses null for missing values
If a field has a label in the PDF but no value, the JSON holds null rather than a guessed entry, so you can see gaps at a glance.
How it works
- Step 1
Paste the text from your PDF into the box, or drop the PDF file onto it. The preview reads up to 5 pages or about 6,000 characters.
- Step 2
Read the JSON preview in the code block and check that the sections and values match the original.
- Step 3
With a free account, get the whole JSON for the full document, download it as a .json file, and convert long or scanned PDFs.
Who uses it
Developers loading documents into an app
You need the content of a PDF as structured data for a database or API, and you want the field names to follow the document's own labels.
Analysts moving figures out of reports
You want the readings, dates and totals from a PDF in a form a script can read, without retyping each value from the page.
Teams archiving forms and records
You want each form or record stored as one JSON object that keeps its sections and the exact wording of each entry.
Questions
Will the JSON match my PDF exactly?
It follows the PDF's sections, lists and tables and keeps names, figures and dates as written. Copied PDF text can break lines mid-sentence or merge columns, so check the output against the original when the values matter.
What happens to tables?
A table becomes an array of objects, using the column headings as keys where the PDF shows them. If the headings are missing or unclear, the output says so rather than guessing.
Can I convert a scanned PDF?
A scanned PDF is only a picture of the text. Reading it needs OCR, which is included with a free account, and the preview here works only on PDFs with selectable text.
Does the tool keep my file?
The preview reads the first pages of your PDF and does not keep the file. A free account handles the whole document and its download.
Related tools
See it on real examples
Three actual runs of this tool. Open one to see the input and the whole result.