Automate PDF Extraction for Monthly Reports Using imPDF API with Serverless Cloud Setup
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Struggling with repetitive PDF extraction? Here's how I automated our monthly reports using imPDF Cloud API in a serverless setupno stress, no mess.
Every Month, I Dreaded This
Every month like clockwork, I'd open my inbox and get hit with 40+ PDF reports from different departments.
Finance. Sales. Ops. You name it.
Each report followed its own formatting rules, buried data in tables, and required manual extraction into Excel sheets for company-wide dashboards.
Wasting hours sometimes days. I couldn't automate itbecause no tool was smart, fast, or flexible enough.
That changed when I found imPDF Cloud PDF low-code REST API.
How I Found imPDFand Why It Stuck
I'd tried Adobe's ecosystem. Expensive. Overkill.
Tried Python scripts with open-source libraries. Messy. Too brittle for production.
Zapier integrations? Couldn't handle the complexity.
What I needed was:
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A cloud-native PDF solution
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That didn't break when the PDF layout changed slightly
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And worked well with my serverless cloud functions (AWS Lambda)
That's when I landed on imPDF Cloud API.
One look at their docs and I knew it: This was built for what I needed.
The Power Behind imPDF Cloud API
Here's the kickerimPDF uses Adobe PDF Library under the hood, which means you're not dealing with second-rate rendering or conversion. This thing works.
What is it?
It's a low-code PDF REST API that automates:
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PDF data extraction
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PDF to Office conversions
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HTML-to-PDF (with beautiful formatting)
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Image generation from websites or HTML
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Form flattening, field extraction, XFA support
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And a bunch more
Who's this for?
If you're a developer, a data analyst, or just the person who gets dumped with "PDF stuff" at your company every monththis is your lifeline.
How I Automated Monthly PDF Reports with a Serverless Setup
Here's the real-world stack I used:
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AWS Lambda for execution
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S3 for storing incoming PDF files
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imPDF API for extraction and conversion
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Google Sheets API for pushing structured data to our dashboard
Here's how it flowed:
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PDFs dropped into an S3 bucket
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Lambda triggered grabbed the PDF
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Sent it to imPDF's
/extractAPI endpoint -
Parsed the response into usable JSON
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Pushed key values to Sheets
No manual touch. Done in under 6 minutes per batch.
Three Game-Changing Features I Use Constantly
1. HTML to PDF with Full CSS & JS Support
We had internal dashboards that needed to be archived as PDFs for compliance. imPDF nailed it.
Supports:
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Flexbox, Grid, Tailwind, Bootstrap
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Custom headers/footers
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JS wait-for-element rendering
Just point to a URL or send raw HTMLit renders pixel-perfect PDFs.
Example use:
I automated our marketing team's campaign previews with scheduled HTML-to-PDF snapshots. Saved their designers 23 hours weekly.
2. PDF to Excel Conversion That Actually Works
Most converters mess this up.
Not imPDF.
Their PDF-to-Excel endpoint understands tableseven when split across pages or not perfectly aligned.
I ran this on our finance reports. It preserved merged cells, header styles, and numeric formatting. We stopped using copy-paste altogether.
3. Form Field Extraction + Flattening
We use dynamic PDFs for HR onboarding. New hires fill in forms using mobile.
imPDF lets me:
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Extract all form field values
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Flatten the document so it's not editable
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Convert XFA Acroforms (no one else does this reliably)
Huge win for automation and compliance.
What imPDF Gets Right (That Others Don't)
Most tools break when documents aren't "standard."
With imPDF:
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It just works, even on weird government PDFs and scanned reports.
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FastI processed 100 PDFs in ~30 seconds using parallel API calls.
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No installit's serverless-friendly and cloud-native.
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No bloated SDKsjust straight HTTP calls with JSON.
Other platforms? They lock you into bloated UI tools or charge a fortune per document.
This? Clean, developer-friendly, and reliable.
For Teams That Drown in PDFsThis Is Gold
If your team
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Regularly converts PDFs to Excel
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Needs to archive or convert HTML dashboards
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Extracts data from scanned PDFs
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Builds automated workflows involving PDFs
...then imPDF is a no-brainer.
I use it across:
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Finance reports
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Sales contracts
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HR onboarding
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Marketing previews
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Legal archives
I've built 5 different automations in the last 2 months using imPDFand we've cut our PDF processing time by at least 80%.
You Need to Try This
If you're still dragging PDFs into some desktop tool and babysitting conversions that's time wasted.
imPDF is flexible, affordable, and just works.
Click here to try it out for yourself: https://impdf.com/
Start your free trial now and boost your productivity.
imPDF Custom Development Services
Need something even more specific?
imPDF offers custom dev services for PDF processing across:
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Platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
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Languages: Python, PHP, C/C++, .NET, C#, JavaScript
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Functions: PDF generation, document monitoring, virtual printers, barcode scanning, OCR, digital signatures, and more
Whether it's building a custom PDF printer driver, intercepting print jobs, or integrating PDF OCR with your backendthese folks can help.
Hit up their support team and talk through what you need:
FAQs
Can I try imPDF without signing up?
Yes. Use their Playground to test features without an account.
Does imPDF store my data?
Not unless you ask it to. It's HIPAA compliant and respects your privacy. You can also send data to your own S3 bucket.
How are conversions billed?
1 credit = 1 conversion (up to 5MB). Larger files use more credits. Simple and transparent.
What if I go over my usage?
You'll get alerts at 50%, 80%, and 100%. You can enable overage so your workflows never get blocked.
Can it handle scanned PDFs?
Yes. With OCR and table recognition, it can convert even image-based PDFs into usable data.
Tags
cloud PDF API, automate PDF extraction, PDF to Excel serverless, PDF REST API, low-code PDF solution, PDF report automation, HTML to PDF converter API