Document Parser Skill

Overview

This skill enables advanced document parsing using docling - IBM's state-of-the-art document understanding library. Parse complex PDFs, Word documents, and images while preserving structure, extracting tables, figures, and handling multi-column layouts.

How to Use

1. Provide the document to parse
2. Specify what you want to extract (text, tables, figures, etc.)
3. I'll parse it and return structured data

Example prompts:

• "Parse this PDF and extract all tables"
• "Convert this academic paper to structured markdown"
• "Extract figures and captions from this document"
• "Parse this report preserving the document structure"

Domain Knowledge

docling Fundamentals

from docling.document_converter import DocumentConverter

# Initialize converter
converter = DocumentConverter()

# Convert document
result = converter.convert("document.pdf")

# Access parsed content
doc = result.document
print(doc.export_to_markdown())

Supported Formats

Format	Extension	Notes
PDF	.pdf	Native and scanned
Word	.docx	Full structure preserved
PowerPoint	.pptx	Slides as sections
Images	.png, .jpg	OCR + layout analysis
HTML	.html	Structure preserved

Basic Usage

from docling.document_converter import DocumentConverter

# Create converter
converter = DocumentConverter()

# Convert single document
result = converter.convert("report.pdf")

# Access document
doc = result.document

# Export options
markdown = doc.export_to_markdown()
text = doc.export_to_text()
json_doc = doc.export_to_dict()

Advanced Configuration

from docling.document_converter import DocumentConverter
from docling.datamodel.base_models import InputFormat
from docling.datamodel.pipeline_options import PdfPipelineOptions

# Configure pipeline
pipeline_options = PdfPipelineOptions()
pipeline_options.do_ocr = True
pipeline_options.do_table_structure = True
pipeline_options.table_structure_options.do_cell_matching = True

# Create converter with options
converter = DocumentConverter(
    allowed_formats=[InputFormat.PDF, InputFormat.DOCX],
    pdf_backend_options=pipeline_options
)

result = converter.convert("document.pdf")

Document Structure

# Document hierarchy
doc = result.document

# Access metadata
print(doc.name)
print(doc.origin)

# Iterate through content
for element in doc.iterate_items():
    print(f"Type: {element.type}")
    print(f"Text: {element.text}")
    
    if element.type == "table":
        print(f"Rows: {len(element.data.table_cells)}")

Extracting Tables

from docling.document_converter import DocumentConverter
import pandas as pd

def extract_tables(doc_path):
    """Extract all tables from document."""
    converter = DocumentConverter()
    result = converter.convert(doc_path)
    doc = result.document
    
    tables = []
    
    for element in doc.iterate_items():
        if element.type == "table":
            # Get table data
            table_data = element.export_to_dataframe()
            tables.append({
                'page': element.prov[0].page_no if element.prov else None,
                'dataframe': table_data
            })
    
    return tables

# Usage
tables = extract_tables("report.pdf")
for i, table in enumerate(tables):
    print(f"Table {i+1} on page {table['page']}:")
    print(table['dataframe'])

Extracting Figures

def extract_figures(doc_path, output_dir):
    """Extract figures with captions."""
    import os
    
    converter = DocumentConverter()
    result = converter.convert(doc_path)
    doc = result.document
    
    figures = []
    os.makedirs(output_dir, exist_ok=True)
    
    for element in doc.iterate_items():
        if element.type == "picture":
            figure_info = {
                'caption': element.caption if hasattr(element, 'caption') else None,
                'page': element.prov[0].page_no if element.prov else None,
            }
            
            # Save image if available
            if hasattr(element, 'image'):
                img_path = os.path.join(output_dir, f"figure_{len(figures)+1}.png")
                element.image.save(img_path)
                figure_info['path'] = img_path
            
            figures.append(figure_info)
    
    return figures

Handling Multi-column Layouts

from docling.document_converter import DocumentConverter

def parse_multicolumn(doc_path):
    """Parse document with multi-column layout."""
    
    converter = DocumentConverter()
    result = converter.convert(doc_path)
    doc = result.document
    
    # docling automatically handles column detection
    # Text is returned in reading order
    
    structured_content = []
    
    for element in doc.iterate_items():
        content_item = {
            'type': element.type,
            'text': element.text if hasattr(element, 'text') else None,
            'level': element.level if hasattr(element, 'level') else None,
        }
        
        # Add bounding box if available
        if element.prov:
            content_item['bbox'] = element.prov[0].bbox
            content_item['page'] = element.prov[0].page_no
        
        structured_content.append(content_item)
    
    return structured_content

Export Formats

from docling.document_converter import DocumentConverter

converter = DocumentConverter()
result = converter.convert("document.pdf")
doc = result.document

# Markdown export
markdown = doc.export_to_markdown()
with open("output.md", "w") as f:
    f.write(markdown)

# Plain text
text = doc.export_to_text()

# JSON/dict format
json_doc = doc.export_to_dict()

# HTML format (if supported)
# html = doc.export_to_html()

Batch Processing

from docling.document_converter import DocumentConverter
from pathlib import Path
from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor

def batch_parse(input_dir, output_dir, max_workers=4):
    """Parse multiple documents in parallel."""
    
    input_path = Path(input_dir)
    output_path = Path(output_dir)
    output_path.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
    
    converter = DocumentConverter()
    
    def process_single(doc_path):
        try:
            result = converter.convert(str(doc_path))
            md = result.document.export_to_markdown()
            
            out_file = output_path / f"{doc_path.stem}.md"
            with open(out_file, 'w') as f:
                f.write(md)
            
            return {'file': str(doc_path), 'status': 'success'}
        except Exception as e:
            return {'file': str(doc_path), 'status': 'error', 'error': str(e)}
    
    docs = list(input_path.glob('*.pdf')) + list(input_path.glob('*.docx'))
    
    with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=max_workers) as executor:
        results = list(executor.map(process_single, docs))
    
    return results

Best Practices

1. Use Appropriate Pipeline: Configure for your document type
2. Handle Large Documents: Process in chunks if needed
3. Verify Table Extraction: Complex tables may need review
4. Check OCR Quality: Enable OCR for scanned documents
5. Cache Results: Store parsed documents for reuse

Common Patterns

Academic Paper Parser

def parse_academic_paper(pdf_path):
    """Parse academic paper structure."""
    
    converter = DocumentConverter()
    result = converter.convert(pdf_path)
    doc = result.document
    
    paper = {
        'title': None,
        'abstract': None,
        'sections': [],
        'references': [],
        'tables': [],
        'figures': []
    }
    
    current_section = None
    
    for element in doc.iterate_items():
        text = element.text if hasattr(element, 'text') else ''
        
        if element.type == 'title':
            paper['title'] = text
        
        elif element.type == 'heading':