OpenDataLoader PDF

Parse PDFs into Markdown, JSON, or HTML with OCR, table extraction, and AI-enriched descriptions for building RAG pipelines and knowledge bases.

OpenDataLoader PDF Skill

Quick Install

bash

# Basic (CPU, ~20 pages/sec)
pip install -U opendataloader-pdf

# Hybrid mode (AI-enhanced, for complex docs, ~2 pages/sec)
pip install -U "opendataloader-pdf[hybrid]"

# LangChain integration
pip install langchain-opendataloader-pdf

Requirements: Java 11+ (for hybrid mode), Python 3.10+

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Core Usage Patterns

1. Parse PDF → Markdown (best for RAG chunking)

python

from opendataloader_pdf import convert

convert(
    input_path=["file1.pdf", "folder/"],
    output_dir="output/",
    format="markdown"  # clean text, LLM-ready
)

2. Parse PDF → JSON (with bounding boxes for citations)

python

convert(
    input_path=["report.pdf"],
    output_dir="output/",
    format="json",           # structured data + coordinates
    image_output="embedded"  # "off" | "embedded" | "external"
)

3. LangChain + RAG Pipeline

python

from langchain_opendataloader_pdf import OpenDataLoaderPDFLoader
from langchain.text_splitter import RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter

loader = OpenDataLoaderPDFLoader(file_path="document.pdf", format="text")
docs = loader.load()

splitter = RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter(chunk_size=1000, chunk_overlap=200)
chunks = splitter.split_documents(docs)
# → embed → vector store → RAG

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CLI Commands

bash

# Basic: single file or folder
opendataloader-pdf file1.pdf file2.pdf folder/

# Complex tables / nested structure (hybrid mode)
opendataloader-pdf --hybrid docling-fast file1.pdf

# Start hybrid backend first, then:
opendataloader-pdf-hybrid --port 5002
# (in another terminal)
opendataloader-pdf --hybrid docling-fast file1.pdf

# OCR for scanned PDFs
opendataloader-pdf-hybrid --port 5002 --force-ocr file1.pdf

# Math formula extraction (LaTeX)
opendataloader-pdf-hybrid --enrich-formula
opendataloader-pdf --hybrid docling-fast --hybrid-mode full file1.pdf

# Chart/image AI description
opendataloader-pdf-hybrid --enrich-picture-description
opendataloader-pdf --hybrid docling-fast --hybrid-mode full file1.pdf

# Security: sanitize prompt injection
opendataloader-pdf file1.pdf --sanitize

---

Output Format Selection Guide

Document Type	Recommended Format	Mode
Standard digital PDF	markdown	Basic
Complex/nested tables	json	Hybrid
Scanned PDFs	any + --force-ocr	Hybrid
Math formulas	markdown + --enrich-formula	Hybrid
Charts needing description	markdown + --enrich-picture-description	Hybrid
Medical reports (cite-able)	json	Hybrid
RAG knowledge base	markdown	Basic or Hybrid

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Key Reference Files

• API Reference — Full Python API, all parameters
• CLI Reference — All CLI flags and hybrid mode
• Examples — RAG pipeline, table extraction, batch processing

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Benchmark Results (v2.0)

Metric	Score
Overall Accuracy	0.90
Reading Order	0.94
Table Accuracy	0.93
Heading Accuracy	0.83

License: Apache 2.0 | GitHub: opendataloader-project/opendataloader-pdf