How to combine and join tables from your PDF data
The Parabola Team
Here's how to combine and join tables from your PDF data in five simple steps, using Parabola:
- Set up your data source by creating a new Parabola flow and uploading your PDF files.
- Extract data from your PDFs using Parabola's PDF parsing tools. This converts your document information into structured tables.
- Define your join conditions by identifying the common fields between tables. This ensures accurate data relationships.
- Use Parabola's transformation tools to create the join operations. This step lets you specify how tables should be combined and what information to include.
- Generate your results by previewing the joined data and running your automated flow. Once set up, this process will handle new PDFs automatically.
Continue reading to see how teams are using table joins to process documents, analyze information, and create comprehensive reports.
How to use PDFs with Parabola
Parabola's PDF handling capabilities enable you to extract and transform data from PDF documents efficiently.
- Automatic text extraction from both searchable and scanned PDFs
- Flexible parsing options for structured and unstructured PDF content
- Batch processing capabilities for multiple PDF files
Retrieving data from PDFs
Parabola's PDF data extraction functionality enables you to convert PDF documents into structured, analyzable data. The platform can handle various PDF formats and layouts, making it versatile for different business needs.
Key features
- Text and table extraction
- Multi-page document support
- Pattern recognition
- Structured data output
- Batch processing capability
How to use
- Add the Pull from PDF file step to your Flow
- Upload your PDF file
- Configure extraction settings, including column names and keys
- Run the step to extract the data
- Add examples and fine tune your extraction settings for more accurate parsing
Combine tables
The Combine tables step in Parabola allows you to merge data sets from different sources based on matching columns. This powerful feature enables you to create comprehensive views of your business data and perform advanced analytics – mirroring the functionality of a vlookup in Excel.
Key features
- Multiple joining methods (inner, left, right, full outer)
- Column matching flexibility
- Automatic data type handling
- Duplicate handling options
How to use
- Add the Combine tables step to your Flow
- Connect the two datasets you'd like to join to the Combine tables step
- Choose the join type
- Map the matching columns
- Specify whether you'd like to match where any values match or all values
- Update results to preview the output and make edits as necessary
Practical use cases and examples
Financial report consolidation
Combine quarterly financial reports stored in separate PDFs into a single comprehensive dataset. This allows for trend analysis and year-over-year comparisons while maintaining data accuracy and consistency.
Inventory management
Merge inventory reports from different warehouse locations stored in PDF format. This creates a centralized view of stock levels and movement across multiple locations.
Sales performance analysis
Combine sales reports from different regions or time periods stored in PDFs to create a unified sales dashboard. This enables better decision-making and performance tracking across the organization.
Working with PDF data doesn't have to be complicated. With Parabola's powerful PDF handling capabilities and table combination features, you can easily transform scattered PDF data into organized, actionable insights. Start building your PDF data Flow today to streamline your data processing workflow.
1
2
3
Want to test out this process yourself?
Open the template, sign up, and get started
Pull from PDF file
Combine tables
Explore and learn more about Parabola
Use Parabola to bring your disparate data and documents together, then tackle your most complex processes with ease
Data transformation
Clean, standardize, and manipulate your data and make it actionable
Data storage
Architect new tables and store millions of rows of data
Data visualization
Build customizable visualizations to uncover new insights
What is PDF data?
PDF (Portable Document Format) files are a universal document format that preserves formatting across different devices and platforms. When working with business data, PDFs often contain valuable information in the form of tables, reports, and structured content that needs to be extracted and analyzed. These files can contain multiple pages and tables, making them both valuable and potentially complex data sources.
Why would you want to combine and join tables from PDF data?
Working with PDF data often requires consolidating information from multiple tables or documents to create comprehensive datasets for analysis and reporting.
- Merge data from multiple PDF reports into a single, analyzable dataset
- Combine historical records stored in PDF format with current data
- Create consolidated reports from multiple PDF sources
- Compare and analyze data across different PDF documents
- Standardize information from various PDF formats into a uniform structure
