DOCUMENTS / Anthropic
Anthropic PDF Processing
Covers PDF extraction, transformation and form filling, with separate workflows for actual form fields and image-based overlays.
“Use this skill whenever the user wants to do anything with PDF files. This includes reading or extracting text/tables from PDFs, combining or merging multiple”
01 / THE REASONING
Why this made the selection.
- Form instructions require field discovery before filling, which avoids treating every PDF as the same format.
- Includes an inspectable bounding-box helper for checking annotation layouts before writing output.
02 / THE REVIEW RECORD
What we actually inspected.
Source review has boundaries.
A clear record is more useful than a “safe” badge.
Material inspected
- skills/pdf/SKILL.md
- skills/pdf/forms.md
- skills/pdf/scripts/check_bounding_boxes.py
- skills/pdf/LICENSE.txt
Our findings
- The main guide routes fillable and non-fillable PDFs to different procedures.
- The inspected forms reference distinguishes coordinate conventions, making rendered-page checks important.
- The helper operates on an authored field-map JSON file rather than inspecting the PDF itself.
Not established by this review
- Source inspection only; no skill installation or workflow execution was performed.
The review applies to the material and revision named here. A newer upstream release can change its behavior.
03 / PUT IT TO WORK
Add a skill to your workflow.
DOCUMENTED COMMAND
/plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skillsCopying does not execute this command. It may retrieve a newer version than the reviewed source.
- In Claude Code, first register the official marketplace with /plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills.
- Install the document-skills plugin under the applicable Anthropic agreement, or use the document capabilities supplied in Claude.
- This catalogue does not redistribute these restricted definitions or offer a cross-agent copying command.
Before you start
- Claude Code or an eligible Claude service
- Applicable Anthropic service access and terms
- Install the PDF/OCR dependencies needed for the selected operation in the authorized host.
04 / FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The source trail.
Our notes are separate from the original resource.
Check upstream before adopting a new version.
https://github.com/anthropics/skills/blob/34040c9c568585f6929bedeaad110ad08f079624/skills/pdf/SKILL.md
Supports: summary, upstreamDescription, whySelected, bestFor, limitations, review, compatibility, access
https://github.com/anthropics/skills/blob/34040c9c568585f6929bedeaad110ad08f079624/skills/pdf/forms.md
Supports: review, limitations, access
https://github.com/anthropics/skills/blob/34040c9c568585f6929bedeaad110ad08f079624/skills/pdf/scripts/check_bounding_boxes.py
Supports: review, limitations, access
https://github.com/anthropics/skills/blob/34040c9c568585f6929bedeaad110ad08f079624/skills/pdf/LICENSE.txt
Supports: license
https://github.com/anthropics/skills/blob/34040c9c568585f6929bedeaad110ad08f079624/README.md
Supports: install, compatibility, access
https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills/blob/7407f3893ad4dceab546ac002c3ef806e4000c73/README.md
Supports: install