Comprehensive PDF manipulation toolkit for extracting text and tables, creating new PDFs, merging/splitting documents, and handling forms. When Claude needs to fill in a PDF form or programmatically process, generate, or analyze PDF documents at scale.
Source: Content adapted from anthropics/skills (MIT).
Overview
This guide covers essential PDF processing operations using Python libraries and command-line tools. For advanced features, JavaScript libraries, and detailed examples, see reference.md. If you need to fill out a PDF form, read forms.md and follow its instructions.
Quick Start
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter
# Read a PDF
reader = PdfReader("document.pdf")
print(f"Pages: {len(reader.pages)}")
# Extract text
text = ""
for page in reader.pages:
text += page.extract_text()Python Libraries
pypdf - Basic Operations
Merge PDFs
from pypdf import PdfWriter, PdfReader
writer = PdfWriter()
for pdf_file in ["doc1.pdf", "doc2.pdf", "doc3.pdf"]:
reader = PdfReader(pdf_file)
for page in reader.pages:
writer.add_page(page)
with open("merged.pdf", "wb") as output:
writer.write(output)Split PDF
reader = PdfReader("input.pdf")
for i, page in enumerate(reader.pages):
writer = PdfWriter()
writer.add_page(page)
with open(f"page_{i+1}.pdf", "wb") as output:
writer.write(output)Extract Metadata
reader = PdfReader("document.pdf")
meta = reader.metadata
print(f"Title: {meta.title}")
print(f"Author: {meta.author}")
print(f"Subject: {meta.subject}")
print(f"Creator: {meta.creator}")Rotate Pages
reader = PdfReader("input.pdf")
writer = PdfWriter()
page = reader.pages[0]
page.rotate(90) # Rotate 90 degrees clockwise
writer.add_page(page)
with open("rotated.pdf", "wb") as output:
writer.write(output)pdfplumber - Text and Table Extraction
Extract Text with Layout
import pdfplumber
with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf:
for page in pdf.pages:
text = page.extract_text()
print(text)Extract Tables
with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf:
for i, page in enumerate(pdf.pages):
tables = page.extract_tables()
for j, table in enumerate(tables):
print(f"Table {j+1} on page {i+1}:")
for row in table:
print(row)Advanced Table Extraction
import pandas as pd
with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf:
all_tables = []
for page in pdf.pages:
tables = page.extract_tables()
for table in tables:
if table: # Check if table is not empty
df = pd.DataFrame(table[1:], columns=table[0])
all_tables.append(df)
# Combine all tables
if all_tables:
combined_df = pd.concat(all_tables, ignore_index=True)
combined_df.to_excel("extracted_tables.xlsx", index=False)reportlab - Create PDFs
Basic PDF Creation
from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter
from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
c = canvas.Canvas("hello.pdf", pagesize=letter)
width, height = letter
# Add text
c.drawString(100, height - 100, "Hello World!")
c.drawString(100, height - 120, "This is a PDF created with reportlab")
# Add a line
c.line(100, height - 140, 400, height - 140)
# Save
c.save()Create PDF with Multiple Pages
from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter
from reportlab.platypus import SimpleDocTemplate, Paragraph, Spacer, PageBreak
from reportlab.lib.styles import getSampleStyleSheet
doc = SimpleDocTemplate("report.pdf", pagesize=letter)
styles = getSampleStyleSheet()
story = []
# Add content
title = Paragraph("Report Title", styles['Title'])
story.append(title)
story.append(Spacer(1, 12))
body = Paragraph("This is the body of the report. " * 20, styles['Normal'])
story.append(body)
story.append(PageBreak())
# Page 2
story.append(Paragraph("Page 2", styles['Heading1']))
story.append(Paragraph("Content for page 2", styles['Normal']))
# Build PDF
doc.build(story)Command-Line Tools
pdftotext (poppler-utils)
# Extract text
pdftotext input.pdf output.txt
# Extract text preserving layout
pdftotext -layout input.pdf output.txt
# Extract specific pages
pdftotext -f 1 -l 5 input.pdf output.txt # Pages 1-5qpdf
# Merge PDFs
qpdf --empty --pages file1.pdf file2.pdf -- merged.pdf
# Split pages
qpdf input.pdf --pages . 1-5 -- pages1-5.pdf
qpdf input.pdf --pages . 6-10 -- pages6-10.pdf
# Rotate pages
qpdf input.pdf output.pdf --rotate=+90:1 # Rotate page 1 by 90 degrees
# Remove password
qpdf --password=mypassword --decrypt encrypted.pdf decrypted.pdfpdftk (if available)
# Merge
pdftk file1.pdf file2.pdf cat output merged.pdf
# Split
pdftk input.pdf burst
# Rotate
pdftk input.pdf rotate 1east output rotated.pdfCommon Tasks
Extract Text from Scanned PDFs
# Requires: pip install pytesseract pdf2image
import pytesseract
from pdf2image import convert_from_path
# Convert PDF to images
images = convert_from_path('scanned.pdf')
# OCR each page
text = ""
for i, image in enumerate(images):
text += f"Page {i+1}:\n"
text += pytesseract.image_to_string(image)
text += "\n\n"
print(text)Add Watermark
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter
# Create watermark (or load existing)
watermark = PdfReader("watermark.pdf").pages[0]
# Apply to all pages
reader = PdfReader("document.pdf")
writer = PdfWriter()
for page in reader.pages:
page.merge_page(watermark)
writer.add_page(page)
with open("watermarked.pdf", "wb") as output:
writer.write(output)Extract Images
# Using pdfimages (poppler-utils)
pdfimages -j input.pdf output_prefix
# This extracts all images as output_prefix-000.jpg, output_prefix-001.jpg, etc.Password Protection
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter
reader = PdfReader("input.pdf")
writer = PdfWriter()
for page in reader.pages:
writer.add_page(page)
# Add password
writer.encrypt("userpassword", "ownerpassword")
with open("encrypted.pdf", "wb") as output:
writer.write(output)Quick Reference
| Task | Best Tool | Command/Code |
|---|---|---|
| Merge PDFs | pypdf | writer.add_page(page) |
| Split PDFs | pypdf | One page per file |
| Extract text | pdfplumber | page.extract_text() |
| Extract tables | pdfplumber | page.extract_tables() |
| Create PDFs | reportlab | Canvas or Platypus |
| Command line merge | qpdf | qpdf --empty --pages ... |
| OCR scanned PDFs | pytesseract | Convert to image first |
| Fill PDF forms | pdf-lib or pypdf (see forms.md) | See forms.md |
Next Steps
- For advanced pypdfium2 usage, see reference.md
- For JavaScript libraries (pdf-lib), see reference.md
- If you need to fill out a PDF form, follow the instructions in forms.md
- For troubleshooting guides, see reference.md
Resource Files
LICENSE.txt
Binary resource
forms.md
Binary resource
reference.md
Binary resource
scripts/check_bounding_boxes.py
Download scripts/check_bounding_boxes.py
from dataclasses import dataclass
import json
import sys
# Script to check that the `fields.json` file that Claude creates when analyzing PDFs
# does not have overlapping bounding boxes. See forms.md.
@dataclass
class RectAndField:
rect: list[float]
rect_type: str
field: dict
# Returns a list of messages that are printed to stdout for Claude to read.
def get_bounding_box_messages(fields_json_stream) -> list[str]:
messages = []
fields = json.load(fields_json_stream)
messages.append(f"Read {len(fields['form_fields'])} fields")
def rects_intersect(r1, r2):
disjoint_horizontal = r1[0] >= r2[2] or r1[2] <= r2[0]
disjoint_vertical = r1[1] >= r2[3] or r1[3] <= r2[1]
return not (disjoint_horizontal or disjoint_vertical)
rects_and_fields = []
for f in fields["form_fields"]:
rects_and_fields.append(RectAndField(f["label_bounding_box"], "label", f))
rects_and_fields.append(RectAndField(f["entry_bounding_box"], "entry", f))
has_error = False
for i, ri in enumerate(rects_and_fields):
# This is O(N^2); we can optimize if it becomes a problem.
for j in range(i + 1, len(rects_and_fields)):
rj = rects_and_fields[j]
if ri.field["page_number"] == rj.field["page_number"] and rects_intersect(ri.rect, rj.rect):
has_error = True
if ri.field is rj.field:
messages.append(f"FAILURE: intersection between label and entry bounding boxes for `{ri.field['description']}` ({ri.rect}, {rj.rect})")
else:
messages.append(f"FAILURE: intersection between {ri.rect_type} bounding box for `{ri.field['description']}` ({ri.rect}) and {rj.rect_type} bounding box for `{rj.field['description']}` ({rj.rect})")
if len(messages) >= 20:
messages.append("Aborting further checks; fix bounding boxes and try again")
return messages
if ri.rect_type == "entry":
if "entry_text" in ri.field:
font_size = ri.field["entry_text"].get("font_size", 14)
entry_height = ri.rect[3] - ri.rect[1]
if entry_height < font_size:
has_error = True
messages.append(f"FAILURE: entry bounding box height ({entry_height}) for `{ri.field['description']}` is too short for the text content (font size: {font_size}). Increase the box height or decrease the font size.")
if len(messages) >= 20:
messages.append("Aborting further checks; fix bounding boxes and try again")
return messages
if not has_error:
messages.append("SUCCESS: All bounding boxes are valid")
return messages
if __name__ == "__main__":
if len(sys.argv) != 2:
print("Usage: check_bounding_boxes.py [fields.json]")
sys.exit(1)
# Input file should be in the `fields.json` format described in forms.md.
with open(sys.argv[1]) as f:
messages = get_bounding_box_messages(f)
for msg in messages:
print(msg)scripts/check_bounding_boxes_test.py
Download scripts/check_bounding_boxes_test.py
Binary resource
scripts/check_fillable_fields.py
Download scripts/check_fillable_fields.py
import sys
from pypdf import PdfReader
# Script for Claude to run to determine whether a PDF has fillable form fields. See forms.md.
reader = PdfReader(sys.argv[1])
if (reader.get_fields()):
print("This PDF has fillable form fields")
else:
print("This PDF does not have fillable form fields; you will need to visually determine where to enter data")scripts/convert_pdf_to_images.py
Download scripts/convert_pdf_to_images.py
import os
import sys
from pdf2image import convert_from_path
# Converts each page of a PDF to a PNG image.
def convert(pdf_path, output_dir, max_dim=1000):
images = convert_from_path(pdf_path, dpi=200)
for i, image in enumerate(images):
# Scale image if needed to keep width/height under `max_dim`
width, height = image.size
if width > max_dim or height > max_dim:
scale_factor = min(max_dim / width, max_dim / height)
new_width = int(width * scale_factor)
new_height = int(height * scale_factor)
image = image.resize((new_width, new_height))
image_path = os.path.join(output_dir, f"page_{i+1}.png")
image.save(image_path)
print(f"Saved page {i+1} as {image_path} (size: {image.size})")
print(f"Converted {len(images)} pages to PNG images")
if __name__ == "__main__":
if len(sys.argv) != 3:
print("Usage: convert_pdf_to_images.py [input pdf] [output directory]")
sys.exit(1)
pdf_path = sys.argv[1]
output_directory = sys.argv[2]
convert(pdf_path, output_directory)scripts/create_validation_image.py
Download scripts/create_validation_image.py
import json
import sys
from PIL import Image, ImageDraw
# Creates "validation" images with rectangles for the bounding box information that
# Claude creates when determining where to add text annotations in PDFs. See forms.md.
def create_validation_image(page_number, fields_json_path, input_path, output_path):
# Input file should be in the `fields.json` format described in forms.md.
with open(fields_json_path, 'r') as f:
data = json.load(f)
img = Image.open(input_path)
draw = ImageDraw.Draw(img)
num_boxes = 0
for field in data["form_fields"]:
if field["page_number"] == page_number:
entry_box = field['entry_bounding_box']
label_box = field['label_bounding_box']
# Draw red rectangle over entry bounding box and blue rectangle over the label.
draw.rectangle(entry_box, outline='red', width=2)
draw.rectangle(label_box, outline='blue', width=2)
num_boxes += 2
img.save(output_path)
print(f"Created validation image at {output_path} with {num_boxes} bounding boxes")
if __name__ == "__main__":
if len(sys.argv) != 5:
print("Usage: create_validation_image.py [page number] [fields.json file] [input image path] [output image path]")
sys.exit(1)
page_number = int(sys.argv[1])
fields_json_path = sys.argv[2]
input_image_path = sys.argv[3]
output_image_path = sys.argv[4]
create_validation_image(page_number, fields_json_path, input_image_path, output_image_path)scripts/extract_form_field_info.py
Download scripts/extract_form_field_info.py
Binary resource
scripts/fill_fillable_fields.py
Download scripts/fill_fillable_fields.py
import json
import sys
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter
from extract_form_field_info import get_field_info
# Fills fillable form fields in a PDF. See forms.md.
def fill_pdf_fields(input_pdf_path: str, fields_json_path: str, output_pdf_path: str):
with open(fields_json_path) as f:
fields = json.load(f)
# Group by page number.
fields_by_page = {}
for field in fields:
if "value" in field:
field_id = field["field_id"]
page = field["page"]
if page not in fields_by_page:
fields_by_page[page] = {}
fields_by_page[page][field_id] = field["value"]
reader = PdfReader(input_pdf_path)
has_error = False
field_info = get_field_info(reader)
fields_by_ids = {f["field_id"]: f for f in field_info}
for field in fields:
existing_field = fields_by_ids.get(field["field_id"])
if not existing_field:
has_error = True
print(f"ERROR: `{field['field_id']}` is not a valid field ID")
elif field["page"] != existing_field["page"]:
has_error = True
print(f"ERROR: Incorrect page number for `{field['field_id']}` (got {field['page']}, expected {existing_field['page']})")
else:
if "value" in field:
err = validation_error_for_field_value(existing_field, field["value"])
if err:
print(err)
has_error = True
if has_error:
sys.exit(1)
writer = PdfWriter(clone_from=reader)
for page, field_values in fields_by_page.items():
writer.update_page_form_field_values(writer.pages[page - 1], field_values, auto_regenerate=False)
# This seems to be necessary for many PDF viewers to format the form values correctly.
# It may cause the viewer to show a "save changes" dialog even if the user doesn't make any changes.
writer.set_need_appearances_writer(True)
with open(output_pdf_path, "wb") as f:
writer.write(f)
def validation_error_for_field_value(field_info, field_value):
field_type = field_info["type"]
field_id = field_info["field_id"]
if field_type == "checkbox":
checked_val = field_info["checked_value"]
unchecked_val = field_info["unchecked_value"]
if field_value != checked_val and field_value != unchecked_val:
return f'ERROR: Invalid value "{field_value}" for checkbox field "{field_id}". The checked value is "{checked_val}" and the unchecked value is "{unchecked_val}"'
elif field_type == "radio_group":
option_values = [opt["value"] for opt in field_info["radio_options"]]
if field_value not in option_values:
return f'ERROR: Invalid value "{field_value}" for radio group field "{field_id}". Valid values are: {option_values}'
elif field_type == "choice":
choice_values = [opt["value"] for opt in field_info["choice_options"]]
if field_value not in choice_values:
return f'ERROR: Invalid value "{field_value}" for choice field "{field_id}". Valid values are: {choice_values}'
return None
# pypdf (at least version 5.7.0) has a bug when setting the value for a selection list field.
# In _writer.py around line 966:
#
# if field.get(FA.FT, "/Tx") == "/Ch" and field_flags & FA.FfBits.Combo == 0:
# txt = "\n".join(annotation.get_inherited(FA.Opt, []))
#
# The problem is that for selection lists, `get_inherited` returns a list of two-element lists like
# [["value1", "Text 1"], ["value2", "Text 2"], ...]
# This causes `join` to throw a TypeError because it expects an iterable of strings.
# The horrible workaround is to patch `get_inherited` to return a list of the value strings.
# We call the original method and adjust the return value only if the argument to `get_inherited`
# is `FA.Opt` and if the return value is a list of two-element lists.
def monkeypatch_pydpf_method():
from pypdf.generic import DictionaryObject
from pypdf.constants import FieldDictionaryAttributes
original_get_inherited = DictionaryObject.get_inherited
def patched_get_inherited(self, key: str, default = None):
result = original_get_inherited(self, key, default)
if key == FieldDictionaryAttributes.Opt:
if isinstance(result, list) and all(isinstance(v, list) and len(v) == 2 for v in result):
result = [r[0] for r in result]
return result
DictionaryObject.get_inherited = patched_get_inherited
if __name__ == "__main__":
if len(sys.argv) != 4:
print("Usage: fill_fillable_fields.py [input pdf] [field_values.json] [output pdf]")
sys.exit(1)
monkeypatch_pydpf_method()
input_pdf = sys.argv[1]
fields_json = sys.argv[2]
output_pdf = sys.argv[3]
fill_pdf_fields(input_pdf, fields_json, output_pdf)scripts/fill_pdf_form_with_annotations.py
Download scripts/fill_pdf_form_with_annotations.py
import json
import sys
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter
from pypdf.annotations import FreeText
# Fills a PDF by adding text annotations defined in `fields.json`. See forms.md.
def transform_coordinates(bbox, image_width, image_height, pdf_width, pdf_height):
"""Transform bounding box from image coordinates to PDF coordinates"""
# Image coordinates: origin at top-left, y increases downward
# PDF coordinates: origin at bottom-left, y increases upward
x_scale = pdf_width / image_width
y_scale = pdf_height / image_height
left = bbox[0] * x_scale
right = bbox[2] * x_scale
# Flip Y coordinates for PDF
top = pdf_height - (bbox[1] * y_scale)
bottom = pdf_height - (bbox[3] * y_scale)
return left, bottom, right, top
def fill_pdf_form(input_pdf_path, fields_json_path, output_pdf_path):
"""Fill the PDF form with data from fields.json"""
# `fields.json` format described in forms.md.
with open(fields_json_path, "r") as f:
fields_data = json.load(f)
# Open the PDF
reader = PdfReader(input_pdf_path)
writer = PdfWriter()
# Copy all pages to writer
writer.append(reader)
# Get PDF dimensions for each page
pdf_dimensions = {}
for i, page in enumerate(reader.pages):
mediabox = page.mediabox
pdf_dimensions[i + 1] = [mediabox.width, mediabox.height]
# Process each form field
annotations = []
for field in fields_data["form_fields"]:
page_num = field["page_number"]
# Get page dimensions and transform coordinates.
page_info = next(p for p in fields_data["pages"] if p["page_number"] == page_num)
image_width = page_info["image_width"]
image_height = page_info["image_height"]
pdf_width, pdf_height = pdf_dimensions[page_num]
transformed_entry_box = transform_coordinates(
field["entry_bounding_box"],
image_width, image_height,
pdf_width, pdf_height
)
# Skip empty fields
if "entry_text" not in field or "text" not in field["entry_text"]:
continue
entry_text = field["entry_text"]
text = entry_text["text"]
if not text:
continue
font_name = entry_text.get("font", "Arial")
font_size = str(entry_text.get("font_size", 14)) + "pt"
font_color = entry_text.get("font_color", "000000")
# Font size/color seems to not work reliably across viewers:
# https://github.com/py-pdf/pypdf/issues/2084
annotation = FreeText(
text=text,
rect=transformed_entry_box,
font=font_name,
font_size=font_size,
font_color=font_color,
border_color=None,
background_color=None,
)
annotations.append(annotation)
# page_number is 0-based for pypdf
writer.add_annotation(page_number=page_num - 1, annotation=annotation)
# Save the filled PDF
with open(output_pdf_path, "wb") as output:
writer.write(output)
print(f"Successfully filled PDF form and saved to {output_pdf_path}")
print(f"Added {len(annotations)} text annotations")
if __name__ == "__main__":
if len(sys.argv) != 4:
print("Usage: fill_pdf_form_with_annotations.py [input pdf] [fields.json] [output pdf]")
sys.exit(1)
input_pdf = sys.argv[1]
fields_json = sys.argv[2]
output_pdf = sys.argv[3]
fill_pdf_form(input_pdf, fields_json, output_pdf)
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