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Getting Started

Haven't installed PDFwerks? Check the Installation instructions to install.

Usage via TUI

You can launch PDFwerks with a simple command: 

pdfwerks

This opens the interactive TUI (Text User Interface), allowing you to visually select and execute operations.

Usage via CLI

You can also use PDFwerks through the Command Line Interface (CLI) for quick PDF operations.

Merge PDFs

pdfwerks merge file1.pdf file2.jpg [file3.pdf ...] [-o OUTPUT]

  • Merge two or more files into one PDF.

    Supported File Types

    You can input a mix of files - including *.pdf, *.jpg, *.png, *.jpeg and *.txt. All non-PDF files will be automatically converted to PDF before merging, so everything works seamlessly.

  • Use -o or --output to specify the output file path. (Defaults to ~Downloads/merged.pdf if not specified)

Compress PDFs

pdfwerks compress file.pdf [--level LEVEL] [-o OUTPUT]
  • Compress and reduce the size of a PDF file
  • Use --level to choose the compression strength - low, medium (default), or high.
  • Use -o or --output to specify the output file path. (Defaults to ~Downloads/compressed.pdf if not specified)

Convert Image to PDF

pdfwerks convert-image file.jpg [-o OUTPUT]

  • Converts any image to a PDF file

    Supported File Types

    Image files of the folowing types *.jpg, *.png and *.jpeg are supported for conversion.

  • Use -o or --output to specify the output file path. (Defaults to ~Downloads/converted.pdf if not specified)

Extract Text

pdfwerks extract file.pdf --format [text|markdown|json] [-o OUTPUT]
  • Extract text from a PDF file and export it to the selected formats

  • Use --format to specify the export format. This is required and must be one of: text, markdown, or json.

    Curious about the json format?

    The exported json stores not only the extracted text but their positional metadata too. This is especially useful for devs working on OCR or Document processing.

    The general output format looks like: 

    [
    {
        "width": 612.0, // Width of Page
        "height": 792.0, // Height of Page

        // Blocks are sections of text in a page like paragraphs, sections, etc.
        "blocks": [
            {
                "number": 0, // block number of the page
                "type": 0,

                // Bounding Box Values
                "bbox": [
                    169.18162536621094,
                    36.8505859375,
                    456.63177490234375,
                    65.8974609375
                ],

                // A block can be divided into lines
                "lines": [
                    {   
                        // A span is a continuous seq of chars that shares the same visual properties
                        "spans": [
                            {
                                "size": 26.0,
                                "flags": 16,
                                "bidi": 0,
                                "char_flags": 24,
                                "font": "Arial-BoldMT",
                                "color": 0,
                                "alpha": 255,
                                "ascender": 0.800000011920929,
                                "descender": -0.20000000298023224,
                                "text": "HEADING TEXT", // Extracted text
                                "origin": [
                                    169.18162536621094,
                                    60.3876953125
                                ],
                                "bbox": [
                                    169.18162536621094,
                                    36.8505859375,
                                    456.63177490234375,
                                    65.8974609375
                                ]
                            }
                        ],
                        "wmode": 0,
                        "dir": [
                            1.0,
                            0.0
                        ],
                        "bbox": [
                            169.18162536621094,
                            36.8505859375,
                            456.63177490234375,
                            65.8974609375
                        ]
                    }
                ]
            },
        // ... more blocks
        ]
    },
    // ... more pages
]

  • Use -o or --output to specify the output file path. (Defaults to ~Downloads/extracted.[format] if not specified)

PDF Security

Enable Password Protection

pdfwerks enable-pwd file.pdf --pwd PASSWORD [-o OUTPUT]
  • Enables password protection for a PDF file
  • Use --pwd to specify the new password for the file. This is required.
  • Use -o or --output to specify the output file path. (Defaults to ~Downloads/encrypted.pdf if not specified)

Disable Password Protection

pdfwerks disable-pwd file.pdf --pwd PASSWORD [-o OUTPUT]
  • Disables password protection for an encrypted PDF file
  • Use --pwd to specify the password for the encrypted PDF file. This is required.
  • Use -o or --output to specify the output file path. (Defaults to ~Downloads/decrypted.pdf if not specified)

Update PDF Password

pdfwerks update-pwd file.pdf --old-pwd OLD_PASSWORD --new-pwd NEW_PASSWORD [-o OUTPUT]
  • Updates the password for a password protected PDF file
  • Use --old-pwd to specify the old password and --new-pwd to specify the new password for the PDF file. These are required.
  • Use -o or --output to specify the output file path. (Defaults to ~Downloads/updated_pwd.pdf if not specified)

Delete Pages

pdfwerks delete-pages file.pdf --pages PAGES [-o OUTPUT]
  • Deletes the specified pages from a PDF file
  • Use --pages to specify pages to delete in the PDF file. Use commas and ranges, e.g., 1,3,5-7,10. This is required.
  • Use -o or --output to specify the output file path. (Defaults to ~Downloads/deleted.pdf if not specified)

Help

pdfwerks -h
pdfwerks --help

Version

pdfwerks -v
pdfwerks --verison