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For http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26613809, a question about getting pdf attachments in gmail as text. I got a little carried away - this does much more than asked.

Google Apps Script pdfToText Utility#

This is a helper function that will convert a given PDF file blob into text, as well as offering options to save the original PDF, intermediate Google Doc, and/or final plain text files. Additionally, the language used for Optical Character Recognition (OCR) may be specified, defaulting to 'en' (English).

Note: Updated 12 May 2015 due to deprecation of DocsList. Thanks to Bruce McPherson for the getDriveFolderFromPath() utility.

    // Start with a Blob object
    var blob = gmailAttchment.getAs(MimeType.PDF);
    
    // fileId will be the ID of a saved text file (default behavior):
    var fileId = pdfToText( blob );

    // filetext will contain text from pdf file, no residual files are saved:
    var filetext = pdfToText( blob, {keepTextfile: false} );

    // we can save other converted file types, too:
    var options = {
       keepPdf : true,            // Keep a copy of the original PDF file.
       keepGdoc : true,           // Keep a copy of the OCR Google Doc file.
       keepTextfile : true,       // Keep a copy of the text file. (default)
       path : "attachments/today" // Folder path to store file(s) in.
    }
    filetext = pdfToText( blob, options );
/**
* Convert pdf file (blob) to a text file on Drive, using built-in OCR.
* By default, the text file will be placed in the root folder, with the same
* name as source pdf (but extension 'txt'). Options:
* keepPdf (boolean, default false) Keep a copy of the original PDF file.
* keepGdoc (boolean, default false) Keep a copy of the OCR Google Doc file.
* keepTextfile (boolean, default true) Keep a copy of the text file.
* path (string, default blank) Folder path to store file(s) in.
* ocrLanguage (ISO 639-1 code) Default 'en'.
* textResult (boolean, default false) If true and keepTextfile true, return
* string of text content. If keepTextfile
* is false, text content is returned without
* regard to this option. Otherwise, return
* id of textfile.
*
* @param {blob} pdfFile Blob containing pdf file
* @param {object} options (Optional) Object specifying handling details
*
* @returns {string} id of text file (default) or text content
*/
function pdfToText ( pdfFile, options ) {
// Ensure Advanced Drive Service is enabled
try {
Drive.Files.list();
}
catch (e) {
throw new Error( "To use pdfToText(), first enable 'Drive API' in Resources > Advanced Google Services." );
}
// Set default options
options = options || {};
options.keepTextfile = options.hasOwnProperty("keepTextfile") ? options.keepTextfile : true;
// Prepare resource object for file creation
var parents = [];
if (options.path) {
parents.push( getDriveFolderFromPath (options.path) );
}
var pdfName = pdfFile.getName();
var resource = {
title: pdfName,
mimeType: pdfFile.getContentType(),
parents: parents
};
// Save PDF to Drive, if requested
if (options.keepPdf) {
var file = Drive.Files.insert(resource, pdfFile);
}
// Save PDF as GDOC
resource.title = pdfName.replace(/pdf$/, 'gdoc');
var insertOpts = {
ocr: true,
ocrLanguage: options.ocrLanguage || 'en'
}
var gdocFile = Drive.Files.insert(resource, pdfFile, insertOpts);
// Get text from GDOC
var gdocDoc = DocumentApp.openById(gdocFile.id);
var text = gdocDoc.getBody().getText();
// We're done using the Gdoc. Unless requested to keepGdoc, delete it.
if (!options.keepGdoc) {
Drive.Files.remove(gdocFile.id);
}
// Save text file, if requested
if (options.keepTextfile) {
resource.title = pdfName.replace(/pdf$/, 'txt');
resource.mimeType = MimeType.PLAIN_TEXT;
var textBlob = Utilities.newBlob(text, MimeType.PLAIN_TEXT, resource.title);
var textFile = Drive.Files.insert(resource, textBlob);
}
// Return result of conversion
if (!options.keepTextfile || options.textResult) {
return text;
}
else {
return textFile.id
}
}
// Helper utility from http://ramblings.mcpher.com/Home/excelquirks/gooscript/driveapppathfolder
function getDriveFolderFromPath (path) {
return (path || "/").split("/").reduce ( function(prev,current) {
if (prev && current) {
var fldrs = prev.getFoldersByName(current);
return fldrs.hasNext() ? fldrs.next() : null;
}
else {
return current ? null : prev;
}
},DriveApp.getRootFolder());
}
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