The latest articles on DEV Community by Beatriz Almeida Felicio (@beatriz_almeidafelicio_e). https://dev.to/beatriz_almeidafelicio_e https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4155748%2Fd24e52ca-02f5-4cde-8914-4f875a13287b.png https://dev.to/beatriz_almeidafelicio_e en Beatriz Almeida Felicio Thu, 01 Oct 2026 19:58:57 +0000 https://dev.to/beatriz_almeidafelicio_e/-jd8 https://dev.to/beatriz_almeidafelicio_e/-jd8 <div class="ltag__link--embedded"> <div class="crayons-story "> <a href="https://dev.to/beatriz_almeidafelicio_e/why-pdf-extraction-breaks-rag-and-what-i-built-to-fix-it-4bgb" class="crayons-story__hidden-navigation-link">Why PDF Extraction Breaks RAG — And What I Built to Fix It</a> <div class="crayons-story__body crayons-story__body-full_post"> <div class="crayons-story__top"> <div class="crayons-story__meta"> <div class="crayons-story__author-pic"> <a href="/beatriz_almeidafelicio_e" class="crayons-avatar crayons-avatar--l "> <img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4155748%2Fd24e52ca-02f5-4cde-8914-4f875a13287b.png" alt="beatriz_almeidafelicio_e profile" class="crayons-avatar__image" width="96" height="96"> </a> </div> <div> <div> <a href="/beatriz_almeidafelicio_e" class="crayons-story__secondary fw-medium m:hidden"> Beatriz Almeida Felicio </a> <div class="profile-preview-card relative mb-4 s:mb-0 fw-medium hidden m:inline-block"> Beatriz Almeida Felicio <div id="story-author-preview-content-4784340" class="profile-preview-card__content crayons-dropdown branded-7 p-4 pt-0"> <div class="gap-4 grid"> <div class="-mt-4"> <a href="/beatriz_almeidafelicio_e" class="flex"> <span class="crayons-avatar crayons-avatar--xl mr-2 shrink-0"> <img 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href="https://dev.to/beatriz_almeidafelicio_e/why-pdf-extraction-breaks-rag-and-what-i-built-to-fix-it-4bgb" id="article-link-4784340"> Why PDF Extraction Breaks RAG — And What I Built to Fix It </a> </h2> <div class="crayons-story__tags"> <a class="crayons-tag crayons-tag--monochrome " href="/t/opensource"><span class="crayons-tag__prefix">#</span>opensource</a> <a class="crayons-tag crayons-tag--monochrome " href="/t/ai"><span class="crayons-tag__prefix">#</span>ai</a> <a class="crayons-tag crayons-tag--monochrome " href="/t/python"><span class="crayons-tag__prefix">#</span>python</a> <a class="crayons-tag crayons-tag--monochrome " href="/t/rag"><span class="crayons-tag__prefix">#</span>rag</a> </div> <div class="crayons-story__bottom"> <div class="crayons-story__details"> <a href="https://dev.to/beatriz_almeidafelicio_e/why-pdf-extraction-breaks-rag-and-what-i-built-to-fix-it-4bgb" class="crayons-btn crayons-btn--s crayons-btn--ghost crayons-btn--icon-left"> <div 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https://dev.to/beatriz_almeidafelicio_e/why-pdf-extraction-breaks-rag-and-what-i-built-to-fix-it-4bgb <p>PDFs are documents, not strings.</p> <p>When PDFs are converted to plain text, tables, reading order, formulas, figures and source locations can easily get lost — and that can hurt RAG pipelines.</p> <p>I built Papero, an open-source PDF extraction tool that preserves document structure and exports to Markdown, JSON, Excel and Word.</p> <p>It also provides structure-aware RAG chunks with section, page and bounding-box metadata.</p> <p>→ GitHub: <a href="https://github.com/beatrizalmeidaf/papero-pdf-text-extractor" rel="noopener noreferrer">papero</a></p> <p>I'd love feedback from people working with RAG, document AI and PDF processing.</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Ffc8971m8ihzdkml2mugc.png" 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