How to Convert PDF to JSON Using the PDF.co API Tester

Step 1: Open the API Tester

Sign in to your PDF.co account and open the Request Tester, also referred to as the API Tester.

Your PDF.co API key is required to run requests. When the tester is opened through your account, the key may already be available.

Step 2: Select the PDF-to-JSON Endpoint

In the endpoint list, select the PDF-to-JSON operation that uses:

POST /v1/pdf/convert/to/json2

This endpoint converts regular PDFs and scanned documents into a detailed JSON representation.

Step 3: Configure the Request

Enter a direct, publicly accessible URL for the source PDF.

Use the following request body as a starting point:

{
  "url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-to-json/sample.pdf",
  "inline": true,
  "async": false
}

The parameters perform the following functions:

• url specifies the source PDF.
• inline: true returns the converted JSON directly in the response.
• async: false waits for the conversion to finish before returning the result.

To process selected pages, add the pages parameter. PDF.co uses zero-based page numbering:

{
  "url": "https://example.com/document.pdf",
  "pages": "0-2",
  "inline": true,
  "async": false
}

This example processes the first three pages.

For a scanned document, you can also specify its OCR language:

{
  "url": "https://example.com/scanned-document.pdf",
  "lang": "eng",
  "inline": true,
  "async": false
}

Step 4: Run the Request

Click the tester’s Run or Send Request control.

A successful response will have:

{
  "error": false,
  "status": 200,
  "pageCount": 1,
  "body": {
    "document": {}
  }
}

The complete body object contains the extracted document structure. Depending on the source file, it can include:

• Page dimensions and page numbers
• Text values
• Font names, sizes, and styles
• Text coordinates
• Images and vector objects
• OCR results for scanned pages

Expand the objects in the response panel to inspect the extracted content.

Step 5: Return a Downloadable JSON File

For this demonstration, inline is enabled so the output appears directly in the tester.

To receive a temporary URL for a generated JSON file, change the setting to:

"inline": false

PDF.co will return an output URL that can be opened or downloaded. Temporary output links expire according to the account and request settings.

For large documents, set async to true. The initial response will contain a job ID that can be monitored using the Background Job Check endpoint.

See the PDF-to-JSON API documentation for the complete parameter list and implementation samples.