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

1. Get the file path - Ask the user for the PDF file path if not provided
2. Verify the file exists and is readable
3. Read the PDF content using the Read tool
   • The Read tool can extract text from PDF files
4. If reading fails:
   • If PDF appears to be scanned/image-based: Inform user OCR may be needed
   • Suggest alternative approaches if text extraction fails
5. Read the analysis prompt from prompts/pdf.md
6. Extract document metadata from content:
   • Title (from content or derive from filename)
   • Author if mentioned
   • Date if mentioned
7. Generate analysis following the prompt structure exactly
8. Create output directory reports/pdfs/ if needed
9. Save the report to reports/pdfs/YYYY-MM-DD_sanitized-title.md where:
   • YYYY-MM-DD is today's date
   • sanitized-title is the title in lowercase, spaces replaced with hyphens, special chars removed, max 50 chars
10. 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
11. Confirm to user what was saved and where

Report Format

Include this header in the report:

# [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/