Split PDF using text in barcodes with Power Automate

By Aravindan Dhanapal | Automation

Split PDF using text in barcodes with Power Automate

Split By Barcode could be a confusing term. We will look first at what exactly the feature can do for you. A lot of PDF documents like invoices, quotes, receipts, bills, etc may come with barcodes or QR codes. We might have to split them at the page where the barcode is present. The Split By Barcode feature from PDF4me lets you do that with simple settings.

E,g. Suppose you have documents with a random number of pages where the last page of the PDF is an Invoice with a barcode. You might want to achieve those particular Invoices or send them via mails. You don’t exactly know how many pages these documents contain. So you cannot use a simple Split feature using a page number.

In such cases, you can make use of the Split By Barcode feature to Split just the invoices by identifying the text embedded in the barcode. If you know the text or a part of it contained in the barcode, you can automate the splitting of the invoice with this Power Automate connector.

Now, let’s look at the case in hand where we want to split a PDF by barcode into multiple PDF files using PDF4me Power Automate connector. This split by barcode action supports most types of barcodes making it possible for wide usage.

OneDrive folder with PDF4me Split By Barcode action

The PDF files uploaded to a selected OneDrive folder location will be split by action settings and uploaded to a different OneDrive location.

Output file saved PDF4me action to OneDrive

Step by Step Guide to create automation flow:

Power Automate Split By Barcode action with OneDrive

Step 1: Trigger Execution

Power Automate has multiple types of triggers to start your workflow. It can be scheduled to run at every regular interval. In this use case, we trigger workflow when a file is created in the OneDrive folder location.

Choose the folder location where PDF documents will be dropped for split by barcode

Step 2: Choose PDF4me Connector and Split by Barcode Action

Click on New Step after completing the Trigger part. A window prompt with many app suggestions where you have to search for PDF4me and select PDF4me Connect. Then PDF4me provided actions will be listed just like below, now choose split by barcode action from the list.

Step 3: Map input fields with Split by Barcode Action

Configure Barcode data in connector

Barcode Filter - Filter options for text in the barcode.

  • Starts With
  • Ends With
  • Contains
  • Exact

Barcode Data - Text data in Barcode to filter & split
Barcode Type - Choose the type of Barcode.

  • Any

  • Data Matrix

  • QR Code

File Content - Map source PDF file content from the previous action
File Name - Source PDF file name with .pdf extension
Split Barcode Page - Choose the way split should occur.

  • Before

  • After

  • Remove.

Configure output path for split PDF files

Step 4: Save split PDF files to OneDrive location

This is a final step to save converted output files to the OneDrive folder location.

Folder Path – Choose the folder location where the Output document to be saved.
File Name – Output file name from the PDF4me split by barcode action.
File Content – Output file content from the PDF4me split by barcode action.

Split By Barcode ready to use templates in Power Automate:

Split PDF By Barcode from Sharepoint

Split PDF By Barcode from OneDrive

Split PDF By Barcode from OneDrive Business

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