PDFs as a data source

Word 2013+ can open PDF files and does a reasonable job of interpreting their tables etc.  From there I would copy and paste the data into an Excel file get a consistent set of rows and columns.  Whole tables should come across quite easily.

If this was a regular requirement, you could probably record/write a Word macro (VBA) to automate the steps.

A VBA procedure to extract information from the PDF would normally be ideal for a recurring process, such as a PDF file published once a month with new information.  Point the procedure at the new or changed PDF file and push the button again and your Excel tables are refreshed with the new information.

The VBA solution I am suggesting here does not involve copy and paste and it does not involve converting your PDF file to Word or Excel first.  The conversion of your PDF to Word or Excel may work for some files that are not large or complex, but the process will likely be slower than the VBA solution that reads the file and extracts the appropriate information to write to your Excel workbook.  I have used the VBA read and extract solution on PDF files as large as 70M and 22,000 pages, writing 3-4 thousand rows to an Excel table.

If you need such a solution, contact me.

I have never seen a PDF used as a data source - in any BI tool I have used so far.
PDFs are not a reasonable format for data.
If possible, you need to get the data in a different format (csv, json, xml, etc.)

Amiregent Is this a one time action, or do you need to extract the information as part of a reoccuring process?

It is possible to write a VBA procedure to read a PDF file and write selected information to your Excel workbook.  With the procedure written, you could create entire tables in Excel from your PDF at the push of a button.  Once the information is in Excel, it is available to Power BI.

The type of VBA procedure I have in mind requires you to have, in addition to Excel, Acrobat regular or pro (not Acrobat Reader).

The difficulty of writing the VBA procedure will vary with the PDF file and the information you are wanting to extract from it.

I would recommend using the Apache tika program to create a text file for parsing. 

Sample syntax is simply:

python tika.py parse text filename.pdf

Extracting table data from PDF documents can be really tricky. For example if a table spans over several pages or if your PDF file is actually a scanned images. There are however PDF Parser solutions on the market which can batch convert PDF to Excel. One I know of is called Docparser.