PDF to LaTeX
"Decompile the Document"
Recover \documentclass structure, equations, and bibliography from flattened PDFs.
The "Lost Source" Crisis
Every researcher knows the pain: You have the PDF of an old paper (or a co-author's draft), but the .tex source code is gone.
- Copy-Paste Fails: Copying from PDF results in broken ligatures ("fi" becomes "?") and garbled math.
- Structure Loss: Headings become plain bold text, not
\sectioncommands. - Reflowing Issues: Hard line breaks make editing impossible.
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\title{Restored Document}
\maketitle
% Automated extraction...
\section{Introduction}
This document was reconstructed from...
\begin{equation}
E = mc^2
\end{equation}
\end{document}
Semantic Reconstruction
We don't just extract text; we infer the logical structure of the document.
Ligature Repair
We detect Unicode ligatures (fi, fl, ffi) and split them back into standard ASCII characters (fi, fl, ffi) for proper compilation.
Math Heuristics
We attempt to identify inline math expressions ($...$) and block equations, replacing symbols with their LaTeX command equivalents.
Table Analysis
Grids of text are detected and wrapped in the tabular environment, with column alignment inferred from whitespace.
Output Capability Matrix
| Component | Handling Strategy | Success Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Body Text | Paragraph detection, de-hyphenation | 99% |
| Sections | Font size analysis -> \section | 95% |
| Simple Math | Superscripts^, Subscripts_ | 85% |
| Complex Math | Matrices, Integrals, fractions | 50% (Requires Review) |
| Figures | Placeholder \includegraphics | Manual (Files needed) |
* Success rate depends on PDF encoding quality (Tagged vs Untagged).
Research Applications
Thesis Recovery
Recover chapter text from a compiled thesis PDF for publication in a new format.
arXiv Preprints
Convert Word-generated PDFs to LaTeX source as required by many scientific repositories.
Journal Submission
Migrate an article from one journal's template to another by extracting clean content.
Accessibility
Create tagged LaTeX/HTML from flattened PDFs to support screen readers for the visually impaired.
Troubleshooting Output
Math Not Rendering?
If equations appear as gibberish (e.g., "∑" becomes a box), the PDF may have used a non-standard font encoding.
Fix: Use an OCR-based tool or manually retype complex formulae.
Missing Images?
LaTeX files do not contain images; they link to them. We generate the code, but you must exact the image files (JPG/PNG) separately.
Fix: Use our "Extract Images" tool and place files in the same folder.
BibTeX Errors?
Bibliographies in PDF are just text. We try to wrap them in the bibliography environment, but automatic citation linking is limited.
Fix: Check Google Scholar for the correct BibTeX entries.
Start Your Paper
Get to the source. Save hours of retyping.
