Extract from File

Read structured records or text out of a CSV, Excel, PDF, JSON, or text file for downstream Steps. Use Extract from File (extractFromFile) with files in File Management, Form Trigger uploads, Convert to File outputs, or HTTP Request downloads.

At a glanceVerified in app · Oct 29, 2026

Use it to: Parse rows, columns, or text out of a CSV, TSV, XLSX, PDF, JSON, JSONL, or text file
Find it: Tools → Data → Convert → Extract from File
Cost: 5 Step credits per started 10 MB
Limits: 20 MiB max file · 100,000 max rows · 500,000 max characters · 1,000 max PDF pages
Output: {{ N.results }}, {{ N.resultCount }}, {{ N.headers }} (tabular/JSON) or {{ N.text }}, {{ N.pages }} (PDF/text)
Instead: Parse JSON (when the content is already a JSON string rather than a file)

Setting it up

Add Extract from File

Open Tools → Data → Convert in the dock and select Extract from File.

Choose the file and file type

File (file): Pick a workspace file or map a file reference from an earlier Step ({{ 1.formData.attachment }} or {{ 2.ret }}).
File type (operation): Keep Work it out from the file ("auto", default) to detect the format automatically, or pick one:
- CSV or TSV ("csv").
- Excel (.xlsx) ("xlsx", supports .xlsx and .xlsm; legacy .xls files are refused).
- PDF ("pdf", extracts embedded text from text-layer PDFs).
- JSON or JSON Lines ("json", supports .json, .jsonl, and .ndjson).
- Text ("text", UTF-8 plain text, Markdown, log, or XML files).

Configure format options (optional)

Under Optional Props, refine how tabular files are parsed:

Option	Applies to	What it does
First row holds the column names	CSV/TSV, Excel	Enabled by default (`headerRow: true`), turning each row into a named record (`{"email": "[email protected]"}`). Disable to get `column_1`, `column_2` keys.
Separator (`delimiter`)	CSV/TSV	Automatic (`auto`, default), Comma, Semicolon, Tab, or Pipe.
Sheet (`sheetName`)	Excel (`.xlsx`)	Name of the worksheet tab to read. Leave blank to read the first sheet in the workbook.

What it passes on

The output fields depend on the extracted format (assuming Extract from File is Step 2):

Format	Output references
CSV / TSV	`{{ 2.results }}` (list of row records), `{{ 2.resultCount }}`, `{{ 2.headers }}` (column names), and `{{ 2.format }}` (`"csv"`).
Excel (`.xlsx`)	`{{ 2.results }}`, `{{ 2.resultCount }}`, `{{ 2.headers }}`, `{{ 2.sheetName }}`, `{{ 2.sheetNames }}` (all tabs in the workbook), and `{{ 2.format }}`.
JSON / JSON Lines	`{{ 2.results }}` (array of items or `[object]`), `{{ 2.resultCount }}`, `{{ 2.data }}` (when the file root is a single JSON object), and `{{ 2.format }}`.
PDF	`{{ 2.text }}` (combined document text), `{{ 2.pageCount }}`, `{{ 2.pages }}` (`[{ pageNumber, text }]`), and `{{ 2.format }}` (`"pdf"`).
Text	`{{ 2.text }}` and `{{ 2.format }}` (`"text"`).

Scanned PDFs: Extract from File reads embedded text layers from PDF files. For scanned image PDFs with no selectable text, pass the file to an AI Prompt Step for OCR. Password-protected PDFs are refused.

Limits

Resource	Limit
Maximum input file size	20 MiB (`20,971,520` bytes)
Maximum extracted rows	100,000 rows (`CSV`, `TSV`, `XLSX`, `JSON`, or `JSONL`)
Maximum extracted text	500,000 characters (`PDF` or `Text`)
Maximum PDF page count	1,000 pages

Examples to copy

Import rows from an uploaded CSV

Parse a CSV uploaded through a Form Trigger and filter for active rows:

Add Form Trigger at Step 1 with a File upload field named csv_file.
Add Extract from File at Step 2 with File set to {{ 1.formData.csv_file }} and File type set to CSV or TSV.
Add a Filter Step at Step 3 over {{ 2.results }} where {{ $item.status }} is "active".

Verify it works

Run: Pick a sample file in File, leave File type on Work it out from the file, and click Run step
You should see: Executions displays the extracted {{ N.results }} rows (with {{ N.resultCount }} and {{ N.headers }}) for tabular files, or {{ N.text }} for PDF and text files.

What’s Next?

Turn a list of records or text into a downloadable file with Convert to File.
Filter, sort, or deduplicate the extracted results list with Filter, Sort, or Remove Duplicates.