Forum Discussion
PDFs as a data source
Amiregent,
There's currently no solution to import PDF data into Power BI Desktop. This data source is in our radar, as we have received some requests in the past, but we don't have any immediate plans to add it to the product.
If this is an important feature for you, please leave a vote for it in our UserVoice Feature Suggestions forum. Please also leave a description about the type of data that you need to extract from the PDF document. For instance, are you trying to extract one/multiple tables from the document, or plain text?
Thanks,
M.
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.
Hello Jim. We need a solution to pull in a PDF document from a website on a recurring basis and import to Power BI.
Can you please provide further details on the VBA solution can help?
Thanks.
As I mentioned in my reply to your Private Message, if I can get a copy of the PDF file and a good description of the information you would like to extract from it to Excel, I could provide a detailed response.
Just to close the loop on this request: importing from PDF files is currently a preview feature in Power BI Desktop. Please try it out and let us know what you think!
Ehren
