Pdftk notes
From raju
Contents
combine multiple files into a single pdf
combine two files
pdftk file1.pdf file2.pdf cat output combined.pdf
combine N files
pdftk file1.pdf file2.pdf ... fileN.pdf cat output combined.pdf
Wildcards can also be used
pdftk *.pdf cat output combined.pdf
dummy
To replace pg-16 of a pdf with another pdf. Assume that the later consists of only one single page.
pdftk A=initial.pdf B=insertAsPg16.pdf cat A1-15 B1 A17-end output final.pdf
Tested using
% pdftk --version pdftk 2.01 a Handy Tool for Manipulating PDF Documents Copyright (C) 2003-13, Sid Steward - Please Visit: www.pdftk.com This is free software; see the source code for copying conditions. There is NO warranty, not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Grab the first two pages in a pdf and reverse the order
pdftk A=inverted.pdf cat A2 A1 output corrected.pdf
To get pages 11-19 (inclusive on both sides) of a pdf file
pdftk A=in.pdf cat A11-19 output out.pdf
Tested using
% pdftk --version pdftk 2.02 a Handy Tool for Manipulating PDF Documents Copyright (c) 2003-13 Steward and Lee, LLC - Please Visit: www.pdftk.com This is free software; see the source code for copying conditions. There is NO warranty, not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
To extract all the odd pages of a pdf file
pdftk A=all_pages.pdf cat A1-endodd output oddpages.pdf
Tested using
% pdftk --version pdftk 2.02 a Handy Tool for Manipulating PDF Documents Copyright (c) 2003-13 Steward and Lee, LLC - Please Visit: www.pdftk.com This is free software; see the source code for copying conditions. There is NO warranty, not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
The filenames should use absolute paths instead of '~'. For example
% pdftk A=~/books/thinkpython.pdf cat A44 output indentation.pdf
fails with
Error: Unable to find file. Error: Failed to open PDF file: ~/books/thinkpython.pdf Errors encountered. No output created. Done. Input errors, so no output created.
but the command below succeeds.
% pdftk A=/home/rajulocal/books/thinkpython.pdf cat A44 output indentation.pdf
Tested using
% pdftk --version pdftk 2.02 a Handy Tool for Manipulating PDF Documents Copyright (c) 2003-13 Steward and Lee, LLC - Please Visit: www.pdftk.com This is free software; see the source code for copying conditions. There is NO warranty, not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
encrypt a pdf with password
pdftk in.pdf output out.pdf user_pw foo
Ref:- http://askubuntu.com/questions/258848/is-there-a-tool-that-can-add-a-password-to-a-pdf-file
Note:- I was unable to encrypt a pdf file using Adobe Reader X1 Version 11.0.13 . I could not find the "Tools pane" described in http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/products/acrobat/pdfs/adobe-acrobat-xi-protect-pdf-file-with-permissions-tutorial-ue.pdf. I also tried File -> Properties -> Security after opening the file. However all the options in that window are greyed out. So I can't add a password from there as well. I was told that Adobe Standard can do this but it costs money whereas pdftk is free. In the end, using pdftk was a no brainer.
store a pdf without password
qpdf --password=YOURPASSWORD-HERE --decrypt input.pdf output.pdf
pdftk secured.pdf input_pw foopass output unsecured.pdf
Note:- If possible switch to using qpdf instead of pdftk. There was couple of instances where the pdftk command failed and qpdf succeeded.
Ref:- https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/removing-password-from-pdf-on-linux/ - Mentions qpdf; gives more alternatives.
debian package
- pdftk-java
external links
- Enricon Zini talks about using pdfk and inkscape to add signatures to pdf documents - http://www.enricozini.org/blog/2016/pdftk-inkscape/