Claude will not open a PDF or says the document is empty: causes and workarounds

Symptoms

• After the upload the answer says the file has no text
• The file is rejected because of its size
• Tables from the PDF are retold with the columns mixed up

Causes and fixes

1. A scan without a text layer: Claude reads pages as images only in image mode, and quality drops over dozens of pages

What to do: Run OCR and upload a text PDF or docx

2. The file exceeds the size or page limit

What to do: Split it into parts or extract the sections you need; a Project has a larger limit for materials

3. Tables in a PDF lose their structure when the text is extracted

What to do: Copy the table into xlsx or csv and upload it separately

4. The document is copy-protected

What to do: Remove the protection or print it to a new PDF

5. A document with personal data or under NDA should not go into a personal account

What to do: Anonymize the text or use the Team plan with a data processing agreement

Common problems and fixes

• Claude not working: six causes and what to do
• Claude declines your card: why Stripe rejects the payment and what to change
• Claude usage limits: why the quota runs out after ten messages and how to stretch it
• How to delete your data from Claude and turn off training on your conversations
• Claude for business: company billing, invoices and VAT

About Claude

Assistant for long documents, contracts and careful writing, with a Project for each matter. Paid plans from $20/mo. Free plan available.

Claude · Alternatives to Claude