How to extract text from PDF by keyword in C# and VB.NET using PDF Extractor SDK

ByteScout PDF Extractor SDK can be used to extract text from PDF by a specific keyword. Check the samples below to learn how to search each page of a PDF file for a keyword and extract text from the pages containing the keyword in C# and VB.NET.

You may also find useful to check how to extract text from a specific area by coordinates.

How to extract text from PDF by keyword in C#

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using Bytescout.PDFExtractor;

namespace FindText
{
	class Program
	{
		static void Main(string[] args)
		{
			// Create Bytescout.PDFExtractor.TextExtractor instance
			TextExtractor extractor = new TextExtractor();
			extractor.RegistrationName = "demo";
			extractor.RegistrationKey = "demo";

			// Load sample PDF document
			extractor.LoadDocumentFromFile("sample2.pdf");
			
			int pageCount = extractor.GetPageCount();

			// Search each page for some keyword 
			for (int i = 0; i < pageCount; i++)
			{
				if (extractor.Find(i, "References", false))
				{
					// If page contains the keyword, extract a text from it.
					// For demonstration we'll extract the text from top part of the page only
					extractor.SetExtractionArea(0, 0, 600, 200);
					string text = extractor.GetTextFromPage(i);
					Console.WriteLine(text);
				}
			}
			
			Console.WriteLine();
			Console.WriteLine("Press any key to continue...");
			Console.ReadLine();
		}
	}
}

How to extract text from PDF by keyword in Visual Basic .NET

Imports System.Drawing
Imports Bytescout.PDFExtractor

Namespace FindText
	Class Program
		Friend Shared Sub Main(args As String())

            ' Create Bytescout.PDFExtractor.TextExtractor instance
			Dim extractor As New TextExtractor()
			extractor.RegistrationName = "demo"
			extractor.RegistrationKey = "demo"

			' Load sample PDF document
			extractor.LoadDocumentFromFile("sample2.pdf")

			Dim pageCount As Integer = extractor.GetPageCount()

			' Search each page for some keyword 
			For i As Integer = 0 To pageCount - 1
				If extractor.Find(i, "References", False) Then
					' If page contains the keyword, extract a text from it.
					' For demonstration we'll extract the text from top part of the page only
					extractor.SetExtractionArea(0, 0, 600, 200)
					Dim text As String = extractor.GetTextFromPage(i)
					Console.WriteLine(text)
				End If
			Next

			Console.WriteLine()
			Console.WriteLine("Press any key to continue...")
			Console.ReadLine()
		End Sub
	End Class
End Namespace