CamScanner-Pdf2Office

Use CamScanner to convert PDF documents to editable Word (.docx) or Excel (.xlsx) format, with intelligent content recognition and accurate format preservation. Triggers on "PDF to Word", "PDF to Excel", "convert PDF to docx", "convert PDF to xlsx", or when the user has a PDF and needs it as an editable Office document.

CamScanner PDF to Office

Overview

CamScanner provides document conversion capabilities that convert PDF documents to Word or Excel documents while preserving original formatting. The workflow is a 3-step pipeline: upload the PDF, convert it, then download the result.

When to Use

• User wants to convert a PDF to Word (.docx) or Excel (.xlsx)
• User wants to make a PDF editable
• User has a PDF and needs it as an Office document

Privacy & Data

Important: Privacy & Data Flow Notice

• Third-party service: This skill sends your files to CamScanner's official servers (ai-tools.camscanner.com) for processing.
• Data retention: CamScanner servers process your files in real-time. Files are not permanently stored on the server.
• Local files: Output files are saved to your local filesystem at the path you specify.

API Reference

Base URL: https://ai-tools.camscanner.com

Supported Conversions

source_type	target_type	Output
pdf	word	.docx
pdf	excel	.xlsx

Step 1: Upload PDF

BASE="https://ai-tools.camscanner.com"

IN_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/upload_file/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
  --data-binary "@/path/to/document.pdf" | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

Response:

{
  "code": 200,
  "tool": "upload_file",
  "tool_result": {
    "success": true,
    "data": {
      "file_id": "file_1741857600_ab12cd34ef56",
      "size": 24576
    }
  }
}

Step 2: Convert PDF

OUT_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/convert_pdf/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"source_type\":\"pdf\",\"target_type\":\"TARGET\",\"output_mode\":\"file_id\"}" \
  | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

Replace TARGET with one of: word, excel.

Response:

{
  "code": 200,
  "tool": "convert_pdf",
  "tool_result": {
    "success": true,
    "data": {
      "file_id": "file_1741857722_ddeeff001122",
      "target_type": "word"
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Download Result

curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/download_file/execute?response_mode=raw" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$OUT_FILE_ID\"}" \
  -o /path/to/output.docx

Critical: The response_mode=raw query parameter is required to get the binary file. Without it, the response is JSON.

Quick Reference: Complete Pipeline

BASE="https://ai-tools.camscanner.com"
INPUT_PDF="/path/to/document.pdf"
TARGET_TYPE="word"          # word | excel
OUTPUT_FILE="/path/to/output.docx"

# Upload
IN_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/upload_file/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
  --data-binary "@$INPUT_PDF" | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

# Convert
OUT_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/convert_pdf/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"source_type\":\"pdf\",\"target_type\":\"$TARGET_TYPE\",\"output_mode\":\"file_id\"}" \
  | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

# Download
curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/download_file/execute?response_mode=raw" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$OUT_FILE_ID\"}" \
  -o "$OUTPUT_FILE"

File Extension Mapping

target_type	Extension
word	.docx
excel	.xlsx

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Forgetting response_mode=raw on download	Always append ?response_mode=raw to the download URL
Wrong Content-Type on upload	Upload uses application/octet-stream, not multipart/form-data
Using GET instead of POST	All three endpoints use POST
Missing source_type in convert request	Always include "source_type": "pdf"
Missing output_mode in convert request	Always include "output_mode": "file_id" to get a downloadable file_id
Wrong output extension	Match extension to target_type (see table above)

Error Handling

Check each step before proceeding:

# After upload
if [ -z "$IN_FILE_ID" ] || [ "$IN_FILE_ID" = "null" ]; then
  echo "Upload failed"; exit 1
fi

# After convert
if [ -z "$OUT_FILE_ID" ] || [ "$OUT_FILE_ID" = "null" ]; then
  echo "Conversion failed"; exit 1
fi