PDF Processing Guide

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.

Output Directory Convention

All files created using this workflow MUST be written to:

outputs/<document-name>/

Where <document-name> is a descriptive, lowercase, hyphenated name. Examples: outputs/project-proposal/, outputs/invoice-forms/

Rules:

1. Create the directory if it doesn't exist
2. All intermediate files (extracted text, images) go here
3. Final output files go here