Skip unmatched column?

[Buba711]

I have data I'm importing from pdf files. They happen to be water bills. There is variability to what data is in those pdf depending on usage since the water becomes more expensive the more you use. When I try to import the folder worth of files my query errors saying it can't find column named tier 3 and shows error and no more data. Some of the pdfs have this tier 3 column and some do not. How can I make my query smart enough to accept that variation or skip that column? Assuming it can be coded but I never learned my db query languages. I can post more info if necessary. Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

Before you expand the tables, add a column using each Table.ColumnCount. Then sort descending by column count. This way, you will always have the column count of whichever table has the most columns. At this point, if you need just the list of tables (and not the meta-data or page columns), instead of expanding the tables, you can drill down on the table column, and then use Table.Combine and then expand the list of tables. Then you'll have all of your columns, and the tables with the missing columns will just have nulls for values.

When working with PDFs, I'm telling you: ALWAYS sort them by column count descending before expanding the tables. It will save you a world of pain.

--Nate