Developer Builds Browser-Based Tool to Catch Arithmetic Errors in PDF Tables

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A developer has created a client-side tool called PDF Table Checker that automatically verifies arithmetic in PDF tables without requiring any templates or server-side processing. The tool uses pdfjs-dist to extract text items with spatial coordinates, clusters them into rows and columns, and identifies subtotal or total rows through keyword matching. It then computes expected sums from data rows and flags any discrepancy greater than 0.1%, addressing a common pain point in financial reporting workflows. Built with Next.js 14 and deployed on Cloudflare Workers, all processing runs entirely in the browser, with a free tier allowing three PDFs per month. A paid plan at $9 per month unlocks unlimited checks and CSV export, and the tool is currently live at compare-lab.xyz.

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