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If you have the latter, converting it will require the use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Generally speaking, there are two main types of PDF files: those created from a text document (text-based) and those created from images (image-based), usually scanned documents. PDF files are created in different ways, which affects the complexity of extracting data from them. Fortunately, you can convert these files to a format more appropriate for working with numbers, like Microsoft Excel. Financial statements and reports, for instance, contain all sorts of interesting data and are often published in this format. This is understandable, as it ensures that the original format is preserved.
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The Portable Document Format (PDF) continues to be a popular method for sharing and publishing information online.
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