Can Filla extract text from scanned PDFs in Airtable?

Yes. Filla's PDF Text Extractor includes OCR (Optical Character Recognition) that converts scanned document images into machine-readable text. When a PDF contains images instead of selectable text (common with scanned contracts, receipts, and forms), Filla runs OCR to extract the text content. OCR supports 7 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic. The extracted text is written to a long text field in your Airtable record, making the content searchable and usable in formulas, filters, and other tools.

What languages does the OCR support?

Filla's OCR engine supports 7 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese, and Arabic. Select the expected document language in the tool settings for the best recognition accuracy. For documents with mixed languages, choose the dominant language. English is the default and works well for most Western-language documents. OCR accuracy depends on scan quality. Higher resolution scans with clear text produce more accurate results than low-resolution or skewed scans.

How does Filla handle PDFs longer than Airtable's character limit?

Airtable's Long Text field has a maximum character limit. When the extracted text from a PDF exceeds this limit, Filla automatically splits the content across multiple fields. The primary output field receives the first portion of text, and Filla creates additional fields (e.g., Extracted Text 2, Extracted Text 3) for the overflow content. This ensures no text is lost, even from very long documents like legal contracts, technical manuals, or research papers. All overflow fields are created automatically on your table.

Can I extract text from specific pages only?

Yes. Filla's PDF Text Extractor supports page range control. Set a start page and end page to extract text from a specific section of the document instead of processing every page. This is useful for long documents where you only need the executive summary, the first page, a specific chapter, or a particular section. Page range extraction is faster and produces less output than full-document extraction, which is helpful when working with large PDFs that would exceed Airtable's character limits.

Processor Tool

Extract Text from PDFs in Airtable

Pull text out of PDF attachments and save it to a text field in your base.

contract.pdf → extracted text

Start Building Free See pricing

Step 1

Connect your Airtable base

Step 2

Configure the tool

Set options, choose columns, and preview results.

Step 3

Run on your records

Process your data. Results write back to Airtable.

What You Get

Built into every Filla processor tool.

Digital and scanned PDF support

Extracts text from selectable PDFs instantly and uses OCR for scanned documents automatically.

7 OCR languages

English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic for international documents.

Keyword extraction

Pulls the top 20 keywords from each PDF so you can search and categorize documents in Airtable.

Page range control

Extract text from specific pages instead of the entire document. Useful for long contracts or manuals.

Overflow handling for long documents

If extracted text exceeds Airtable's field limit, it automatically splits across multiple fields.

Part of the Filla Platform

Every plan includes forms, 15+ processor tools, and document generation -- all connected to your Airtable base.

Form Builder

Conditional logic, multi-step, linked records

Custom Forms

Beyond native Airtable forms

15+ Processor Tools

Validate, transform, and enrich data

Document Generation

PDFs, contracts, and reports from records