4 ways to make ChatGPT read PDF files

ChatGPT is an incredibly powerful tool that can do amazing things with text. It can summarize articles, advise on article structure and content, compose emails, and more.

However, the tool can be clumsy when dealing with file formats like PDF . This can be difficult if you want ChatGPT to work with PDF content. If you are having trouble getting ChatGPT to read PDF files, here are some easy ways to do it.

1. Provide URL for ChatGPT

ChatGPT can reference URLs that you provide. This means that if a PDF file is online, it is extremely easy for ChatGPT to reference it. A URL is a web address that consists of 5 main components. We won’t go into details here, all you need to know is the web address of the PDF file you want to reference.

For example, let's say you're studying the United States Constitution and need to summarize certain sections. If you find a PDF online, it's easy to use ChatGPT to summarize the content.

Let's say you want a summary of Article 1, sections 1 through 4. Given the document URL, you can prompt ChatGPT to summarize these sections.

ChatGPT will then clearly summarize the key points on the requested pages. One thing to note here is that there are limitations to ChatGPT's prompts and responses, especially when dealing with complex requests. So for larger documents, it is advisable to break the task into smaller chunks.

2. Copy text from PDF file

If you have a copy of the PDF file on your computer, the easiest way is to simply copy the text you need from the PDF file. The example below opened a PDF copy of a MakeUseOf article about query generation techniques on ChatGPT. I used Microsoft Edge to open the file, then highlighted the relevant text and copied it to the clipboard.

The text can then be pasted into the ChatGPT prompt and the desired result achieved. In this case, for example, asking the tool to bullet points in the text.

As you can see, ChatGPT will easily respond to prompts by pasting text into them. Just remember not to ask too many things in one request. This technique will work with most applications that can open PDF files.

3. Convert PDF files to text documents

Ultimately, ChatGPT will do a great job of reading text, because at the core of every AI chatbot is a large language model (LLM). LLM is a massive database of text that AI chatbots reference to provide human-like responses. While PDFs contain text, they are not easily editable, which makes it difficult to work with this format in ChatGPT. But converting the document to a more manageable format is easy.

There are a number of ways to do this, including converting a PDF file to a Word document using Google Drive. There are also a number of online PDF editors, many of which will allow you to convert a PDF to text.

However, if you have Microsoft Word or a similar word processor installed, you can simply open the file and save it as a text document or Word document. The following steps will guide you through the process of doing this in Word:

1. Open Word and use the Open command and browse to the folder where the document is stored.

2. If the document does not appear, use the file type drop-down box and select PDF Files from the options.

3. When you open the file you will be asked to convert the document, click OK to continue.

4. Word will now convert and open the file, you can use the Save As command to save it as a Word or text document as desired.

Once the conversion is complete, you can copy the text directly into ChatGPT and run the prompt on it to get the desired result.

4. Install and use the extension

Unfortunately, at this time, ChatGPT does not include a way to automatically upload PDF files, or any files for that matter. Sure, you can copy text from a PDF or convert it to a text document, but is there a simpler way to do that? Fortunately, there is. One of the easiest ways to get ChatGPT to read PDF files is to simply install and use the extension.

ChatGPT File Uploader is a free Chrome extension that allows you to upload any file, including Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, image files, and of course PDF files. What makes this method great is that it is incredibly easy to use.

The steps are simple - install ChatGPT File Uploader on your browser, open ChatGPT and you will see a shiny new Upload button next to the notification bar at the bottom. From there, all you have to do is press the button and select the PDF you want to upload.