if code don't work please check, on your device installed java If yor are using Ubuntu 20.01 (and 18.04) like me, the solution is to Install Oracle JDK 17. Do the following: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linuxuprising/java sudo apt update sudo apt install oracle-java17-installer Type java -version on the terminal. You should see the following print-out: java version "17.0.1" 2021-10-19 LTS` Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 17.0.1+12-LTS-39)` Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 17.0.1+12-LTS-39, mixed mode, sharing) tika should then be able to extract text from your pdf in python. parser.from_file(<your pdf file>)