PDF Processing Guide

Intent Router

Load sections based on the task:

• Extract text → "Quick Start" + "pdfplumber - Text and Table Extraction" for layout-aware extraction
• Merge/split/rotate PDFs → "Command-Line Tools" for qpdf or "Python Libraries" for pypdf
• Create PDF from scratch → "reportlab - Create PDFs" section with canvas or Platypus examples
• Fill PDF forms → Read FORMS.md for detailed form-filling patterns
• Scanned PDF / OCR → "Extract Text from Scanned PDFs" for pytesseract workflow
• Advanced operations → "Command-Line Tools" for qpdf, pdftk, or "Python Libraries" for pypdfium2

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.