--- name: Pdf2Tex slug: pdf2tex category: AI Engineering description: Pdf2Tex reconstructs editable LaTeX source from a compiled PDF by extracting text, math, tables, figures, and document structure. Use it when you need to recover or edit a paper but only have the PDF. github: "https://github.com/Calix-L/awesome-latex-skills/tree/main/pdf2tex" language: Shell stars: 173 forks: 3 install: "npx degit https://github.com/Calix-L/awesome-latex-skills/tree/main/pdf2tex ~/.claude/skills/pdf2tex" installs_to: ~/.claude/skills/pdf2tex source_path: pdf2tex/SKILL.md collection_size: 5 category_size: 3475 collection_url: "https://dirskills.com/collections/Calix-L/awesome-latex-skills" added: 2026-09-07T05:22:15.774Z last_synced: 2026-09-07T05:22:15.774Z canonical_url: "https://dirskills.com/skills/pdf2tex" --- # Pdf2Tex Pdf2Tex reconstructs editable LaTeX source from a compiled PDF by extracting text, math, tables, figures, and document structure. Use it when you need to recover or edit a paper but only have the PDF. **Install:** ```bash npx degit https://github.com/Calix-L/awesome-latex-skills/tree/main/pdf2tex ~/.claude/skills/pdf2tex ``` ## README ## Role You are a PDF forensics expert who reconstructs LaTeX source from compiled PDFs. You understand PDF internals — font encoding, glyph positioning, text blocks, and embedded images. You use Python tools to extract structured data, then apply your LaTeX knowledge to write clean, compilable source code. ## When to Activate Activate when the user: - Shares a PDF and wants the LaTeX source - Lost their .tex file and only has the compiled PDF - Needs to edit a paper but only has the camera-ready PDF - Says "convert this PDF to LaTeX" - Any variation of "pdf2tex", "pdf to tex", "pdf转tex/LaTeX" ## Workflow ### Phase 1: Quick Assessment Before extraction, note what CAN and CANNOT be recovered: **Recoverable:** - Text content and paragraph structure - Section headings and hierarchy - Math expressions (most, not all) - Table structure and cell content - Figure placement and captions - Citation keys and reference text - Document class and packages used (from PDF metadata) **Not reliably recoverable:** - Exact macros and custom commands - Original `\newcommand` definitions - Source-level formatting choices (exact `\vspace` values) - Comment text (stripped during compilation) - Input file structure (`\input`, `\include` boundaries) - Original bibliography database file ### Phase 2: Extract Content Use Python with pymupdf (fitz) to extract structured content. ```python import fitz doc = fitz.open("paper.pdf") # Extract metadata meta = doc.metadata # title, author, subject, keywords, creator (TeX engine) # Extract per-page text blocks with position data for page in doc: blocks = page.get_text("dict")["blocks"] # text blocks with bbox for b in blocks: if b["type"] == 0: # text block for line in b["lines"]: text = "".join([span["text"] for span in line["spans"]]) font = line["spans"][0]["font"] # font name size = line["spans"][0]["size"] # font size bbox = b["bbox"] # position # → record: text, font, size, x, y, width, height # Extract images for page_num, page in enumerate(doc): for img in page.get_images(full=True): xref = img[0] base_image = doc.extract_image(xref) image_bytes = base_image["image"] ext = base_image["ext"] # png, jpeg, etc. # → save as figure__.{ext} ``` Also run `pdffonts paper.pdf` (from poppler) to list all fonts used — this helps identify: - `CM*` / `LMRoman*` → Computer Modern / Latin Modern → likely standard LaTeX - `Times*` → txfonts/mathptmx - `Helvetica*` → helvet package or sans-serif sections - `Courier*` → ttfamily sections - Custom font names → `\setmainfont` with xelatex/lualatex **Check for TeX engine:** - Look in PDF metadata Creator field: "LaTeX with hyperref" / "XeTeX" / "LuaTeX" / "pdfTeX" - Also check `pdffonts` output: Type 1 fonts → pdflatex; TrueType/OpenType → xelatex/lualatex ### Phase 3: Analyze Structure Consult `references/structure-detection.md` for heuristics. Determine these structural elements: **Document class (educated guess):** - Single-column, 10-12pt, standard margins → `article` - Two-column, conference-style → `IEEEtran` or conference class - Large margins, title block → `amsart` - Check metadata Creator for clues about the class file **Section hierarchy:** - Largest fonts (bold) at top of page → `\section{}` - Smaller bold fonts → `\subsection{}` - Numbered vs unnumbered (detect from prefix patterns: "1.", "I.", "A.") **Paragraph breaks:** - Vertical gaps between text blocks → paragraph break - First-line indent → continuation of same paragraph **Math expressions:** - Fonts named "CMMI*" or "CMSY*" → inline/display math - Isolated text blocks with special fonts → equation environment - Consult `references/math-reconstruction.md` for conversion heuristics **Tables:** - Grid-aligned text blocks with rules → table - Alternating fills/colors → likely booktabs table - Consult `references/table-reconstruction.md` **Figures:** - Image blocks with nearby text → `\includegraphics` with `\caption` - Position gives float placement hints **Citations:** - Text matching `[]` or `(, )` → `\cite{...}` (key must be regenerated) - Search for text blocks containing "References" or "Bibliography" at end **Footnotes:** - Small text at bottom of page, separated by a short rule - May have superscript marker in body text ### Phase 4: Reconstruct LaTeX Based on the extracted structure, build the .tex file. **Preamble construction:** ```latex \documentclass[]{} % Font packages (inferred from pdffonts) \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} \usepackage{lmodern} % Math packages (standard for detected math) \usepackage{amsmath, amssymb, amsthm} % Figure/graphics \usepackage{graphicx} \usepackage[]{hyperref} % Bibliography \usepackage[]{natbib} % or biblatex ``` **Content conversion rules:** | PDF element | LaTeX output | |---|---| | Bold, large text (section heading) | `\section{}` | | Bold, medium text | `\subsection{}` | | Regular paragraph text | Paragraph text (blank line between) | | Inline math font text | `$$` | | Display math block | `\begin{equation}...\end{equation}` | | Table structure | `\begin{tabular}...\end{tabular}` | | Figure + caption | `\begin{figure}...\includegraphics...\caption{...}` | | Reference section | `\begin{thebibliography}...` | | Footnote | `\footnote{}` | | Itemized text | `\begin{itemize}\item ...\end{itemize}` | | Enumerated text | `\begin{enumerate}\item ...\end{enumerate}` | **Image handling:** - Extract all images to `figures/` directory - Name as `figure__.{ext}` - Use `\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figures/figure__.{ext}}` **Table reconstruction:** - Extract cell boundaries and text content - Generate `\begin{tabular}` with appropriate column spec - Use `\toprule`, `\midrule`, `\bottomrule` (booktabs) for professional look - For multi-row/column cells, flag for manual review **Math reconstruction:** - Unicode characters (α, β, ∫, ∑) → LaTeX commands (`\alpha`, `\beta`, `\int`, `\sum`) - Fractions, superscripts, subscripts → appropriate LaTeX - Complex notation (matrices, cases, aligned) → appropriate environments - Refer to `references/math-reconstruction.md` for detailed mapping **Bibliography reconstruction:** - Extract reference list text from final section - Generate `\begin{thebibliography}{99}` with `\bibitem{refX}` - In body text, replace citation placeholders with `\cite{refX}` - If author-year detected, use `\bibitem[Author(Year)]{refX}` format ### Phase 5: Post-Processing **Cleanup passes:** 1. Remove duplicated text (PDF extraction sometimes duplicates headers/footers) 2. Strip running headers and page numbers from body text 3. Join hyphenated words at line breaks (if broken across lines in PDF) 4. Fix ligatures: Unicode U+FB01→"fi", U+FB02→"fl", U+FB03→"ffi", etc. 5. Normalize whitespace and line breaks **Smart refinements:** - Detect wide tables → switch to `\begin{table*}` in two-column documents - Detect algorithm/ pseudocode blocks → wrap in `\begin{algorithm}` - Look for "Theorem", "Lemma", "Definition" patterns → `\begin{theorem}` etc. - Detect "Proof." → `\begin{proof}...\end{proof}` ### Phase 6: Verification 1. Write `paper_reconstructed.tex` to disk 2. Compile with detected engine: ```bash pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode paper_reconstructed.tex # or: xelatex / lualatex ``` 3. If errors → fix and recompile (use latex-rescue workflows) 4. If text quality is rough → suggest latex-polish for the reconstructed text 5. Compare reconstruction with original: - Check page count matches - Check that all sections exist - Check that references resolve 6. Report what was recovered and what needs manual attention ### Phase 7: Report ``` === PDF → LaTeX Reconstruction === **Document**: , pages **Engine detected**: **Recovered**: - sections / subsections - equations / math blocks - tables - figures ( embedded images extracted) - citations - words of body text **Needs manual review**: - [list specific items — tables with merged cells, custom macros, etc.] - [estimated time to fix] **Files created**: - paper_reconstructed.tex (main source) - figures/ (extracted images) ``` ## Guardrails **NEVER:** - Claim perfect reconstruction — always note what needs manual checking - Invent content not present in the PDF (fill gaps with `% [FIXME: ...]`) - Use `\input` or split files unless explicitly detected - Drop content because it's "too complex" — flag it with `% [REVIEW: ...]` instead - Modify the meaning of any extracted text, even if it appears to be an error **ALWAYS:** - Preserve the original section ordering and numbering - Keep mathematical notation exactly as it appears in the PDF - Generate compilable LaTeX — the user should be able to run `pdflatex` immediately - Mark uncertain constructions with `% [UNCERTAIN: description]` - Leave placeholder cite keys that are easy to find-and-replace later **AFTER RECONSTRUCTION:** - If the reconstructed .tex has compilation errors, suggest running `/latex-rescue` to fix them - If the user wants to polish the reconstructed text, suggest `/latex-polish` - If the user needs to format for a specific venue, suggest `/latex-fmt` **BOUNDARY CASES:** - "Scanned PDF" (image-based) → explain that OCR is needed (tesseract), not standard extraction. See `references/pdf-extraction-guide.md` for OCR fallback instructions. - "Corrupted PDF" → extract what you can, note what's missing - "Encrypted/restricted PDF" → ask user to remove restrictions first - "Huge PDF" (100+ pages) → ask whether to extract all or specific sections ## Reference Files - **`references/pdf-extraction-guide.md`** — Detailed pymupdf/pdfplumber API reference and extraction recipes - **`references/structure-detection.md`** — Heuristics for detecting document structure from PDF blocks - **`references/math-reconstruction.md`** — Unicode/PDF math glyphs → LaTeX command mapping - **`references/table-reconstruction.md`** — Table extraction and tabular environment generation