PDF Document Analysis
Analyze PDF documents to generate structured reports with summaries, key points, data extraction, and insights.
When to Use
Activate this skill when the user:
- •Mentions "PDF", "document", "whitepaper", "ebook", "report"
- •Provides a file path to a .pdf file
- •Asks to summarize or analyze a PDF document
- •Wants to extract insights from a document file
- •References a downloaded report or paper
Instructions
- •Get the file path - Ask the user for the PDF file path if not provided
- •Verify the file exists and is readable
- •Read the PDF content using the Read tool
- •The Read tool can extract text from PDF files
- •If reading fails:
- •If PDF appears to be scanned/image-based: Inform user OCR may be needed
- •Suggest alternative approaches if text extraction fails
- •Read the analysis prompt from
prompts/pdf.md - •Extract document metadata from content:
- •Title (from content or derive from filename)
- •Author if mentioned
- •Date if mentioned
- •Generate analysis following the prompt structure exactly
- •Create output directory
reports/pdfs/if needed - •Save the report to
reports/pdfs/YYYY-MM-DD_sanitized-title.mdwhere:- •YYYY-MM-DD is today's date
- •sanitized-title is the title in lowercase, spaces replaced with hyphens, special chars removed, max 50 chars
- •Update the activity log at
logs/YYYY-MM-DD.md:- •Create file if it doesn't exist with standard sections
- •Add entry under "## PDFs Reviewed" section (create if needed)
- •Format:
- [Title](../reports/pdfs/filename.md) - HH:MM
- •Confirm to user what was saved and where
Report Format
Include this header in the report:
markdown
# [Document Title] **Source**: [file path] **Date**: YYYY-MM-DD **Type**: PDF Document --- [Analysis content following prompts/pdf.md structure] --- ## My Notes [Empty space for user notes]
Error Handling
- •If file path doesn't exist: Ask user for correct path
- •If file is not a PDF: Suggest using /analyze for other file types
- •If text extraction fails: Suggest OCR or manual copy
- •If prompts/pdf.md missing: Use prompts/default.md
Related
- •Slash command equivalent:
/pdf <filepath> - •Prompt file:
prompts/pdf.md - •Output location:
reports/pdfs/