PDF to PDF / Command Line Reference

Conversion from PDF to PDF.

usage: pdf2pdf [options] source
source
Input files used for a conversion.

Options

PDF Manipulation

-action
Specifies the action to be performed on the input PDFs.
Allowed values:
  • join
    Concatenate input PDFs into a single one.
  • shuffle
    Collate pages from input PDFs into a single one, take one page at a time from each input PDF. This is useful when combining two scanned documents containing odd and even pages.
  • extract
    Extract pages from input PDF.
  • delete
    Delete pages from input PDF.
Default: join
-input-pdf-password
Password to open the encrypted PDF file.
Availability: API client >= 5.4.0, converter >= 20.10. See versioning.
-page-range
Set the page range for extract or delete action.
Constraint:
  • A comma separated list of page numbers or ranges.
Examples:
  • Just the second page is selected.
    "2"
  • The first and the third page are selected.
    "1,3"
  • Everything except the first page is selected.
    "2-"
  • Just first 3 pages are selected.
    "-3"
  • Pages 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are selected.
    "3,6-9"

Watermark & Background

-page-watermark
Apply a watermark to each page of the output PDF file. A watermark can be either a PDF or an image. If a multi-page file (PDF or TIFF) is used, the first page is used as the watermark.
Constraint:
  • The file must exist and not be empty.
Examples:
  • "/home/user/john/watermark.pdf"
  • "/home/user/john/watermark.png"
-page-watermark-url
Load a file from the specified URL and apply the file as a watermark to each page of the output PDF. A watermark can be either a PDF or an image. If a multi-page file (PDF or TIFF) is used, the first page is used as the watermark.
Constraint:
  • The supported protocols are http:// and https://.
Examples:
  • "http://myserver.com/watermark.pdf"
  • "http://myserver.com/watermark.png"
-multipage-watermark
Apply each page of a watermark to the corresponding page of the output PDF. A watermark can be either a PDF or an image.
Constraint:
  • The file must exist and not be empty.
Examples:
  • "/home/user/john/watermark.pdf"
  • "/home/user/john/watermark.png"
-multipage-watermark-url
Load a file from the specified URL and apply each page of the file as a watermark to the corresponding page of the output PDF. A watermark can be either a PDF or an image.
Constraint:
  • The supported protocols are http:// and https://.
Examples:
  • "http://myserver.com/watermark.pdf"
  • "http://myserver.com/watermark.png"
-page-background
Apply a background to each page of the output PDF file. A background can be either a PDF or an image. If a multi-page file (PDF or TIFF) is used, the first page is used as the background.
Constraint:
  • The file must exist and not be empty.
Examples:
  • "/home/user/john/background.pdf"
  • "/home/user/john/background.png"
-page-background-url
Load a file from the specified URL and apply the file as a background to each page of the output PDF. A background can be either a PDF or an image. If a multi-page file (PDF or TIFF) is used, the first page is used as the background.
Constraint:
  • The supported protocols are http:// and https://.
Examples:
  • "http://myserver.com/background.pdf"
  • "http://myserver.com/background.png"
-multipage-background
Apply each page of a background to the corresponding page of the output PDF. A background can be either a PDF or an image.
Constraint:
  • The file must exist and not be empty.
Examples:
  • "/home/user/john/background.pdf"
  • "/home/user/john/background.png"
-multipage-background-url
Load a file from the specified URL and apply each page of the file as a background to the corresponding page of the output PDF. A background can be either a PDF or an image.
Constraint:
  • The supported protocols are http:// and https://.
Examples:
  • "http://myserver.com/background.pdf"
  • "http://myserver.com/background.png"

PDF Format

Miscellaneous values for PDF output.

-linearize
Create linearized PDF. This is also known as Fast Web View.
Allowed values:
  • true, 1 or on
  • false, 0 or off
Default: False
-encrypt
Encrypt the PDF. This prevents search engines from indexing the contents.
Allowed values:
  • true, 1 or on
  • false, 0 or off
Default: False
-user-password
Protect the PDF with a user password. When a PDF has a user password, it must be supplied in order to view the document and to perform operations allowed by the access permissions.
Example:
  • "123456"
-owner-password
Protect the PDF with an owner password. Supplying an owner password grants unlimited access to the PDF including changing the passwords and access permissions.
Example:
  • "123456"
-no-print
Disallow printing of the output PDF.
Allowed values:
  • true, 1 or on
  • false, 0 or off
Default: False
-no-modify
Disallow modification of the output PDF.
Allowed values:
  • true, 1 or on
  • false, 0 or off
Default: False
-no-copy
Disallow text and graphics extraction from the output PDF.
Allowed values:
  • true, 1 or on
  • false, 0 or off
Default: False
-title
Set the title of the PDF.
Example:
  • "My Resume"
-subject
Set the subject of the PDF.
Example:
  • "CV - Software Developer"
-author
Set the author of the PDF.
Example:
  • "John Doe"
-keywords
Associate keywords with the document.
Example:
  • "software developer, Unix, databases"
-use-metadata-from
Use metadata (title, subject, author and keywords) from the n-th input PDF.
Constraint:
  • Must be a positive integer number or 0.
Default: 0
Example:
  • Use metadata from the first input PDF.
    1

Viewer Preferences

These preferences specify how a PDF viewer should present the document. The preferences may be ignored by some PDF viewers.

-page-layout
Specify the page layout to be used when the document is opened.
Allowed values:
  • single-page
    Display one page at a time.
  • one-column
    Display the pages in one column.
  • two-column-left
    Display the pages in two columns, with odd-numbered pages on the left.
  • two-column-right
    Display the pages in two columns, with odd-numbered pages on the right.
-page-mode
Specify how the document should be displayed when opened.
Allowed values:
  • full-screen
    Full-screen mode.
  • thumbnails
    Thumbnail images are visible.
  • outlines
    Document outline is visible.
-initial-zoom-type
Specify how the page should be displayed when opened.
Allowed values:
  • fit-width
    The page content is magnified just enough to fit the entire width of the page within the window.
  • fit-height
    The page content is magnified just enough to fit the entire height of the page within the window.
  • fit-page
    The page content is magnified just enough to fit the entire page within the window both horizontally and vertically. If the required horizontal and vertical magnification factors are different, use the smaller of the two, centering the page within the window in the other dimension.
-initial-page
Display the specified page when the document is opened.
Constraint:
  • Must be a positive integer number.
Example:
  • 2
-initial-zoom
Specify the initial page zoom in percents when the document is opened.
Constraint:
  • Must be a positive integer number.
Example:
  • 50
-hide-toolbar
Specify whether to hide the viewer application's tool bars when the document is active.
Allowed values:
  • true, 1 or on
  • false, 0 or off
Default: False
-hide-menubar
Specify whether to hide the viewer application's menu bar when the document is active.
Allowed values:
  • true, 1 or on
  • false, 0 or off
Default: False
-hide-window-ui
Specify whether to hide user interface elements in the document's window (such as scroll bars and navigation controls), leaving only the document's contents displayed.
Allowed values:
  • true, 1 or on
  • false, 0 or off
Default: False
-fit-window
Specify whether to resize the document's window to fit the size of the first displayed page.
Allowed values:
  • true, 1 or on
  • false, 0 or off
Default: False
-center-window
Specify whether to position the document's window in the center of the screen.
Allowed values:
  • true, 1 or on
  • false, 0 or off
Default: False
-display-title
Specify whether the window's title bar should display the document title. If false , the title bar should instead display the name of the PDF file containing the document.
Allowed values:
  • true, 1 or on
  • false, 0 or off
Default: False
-right-to-left
Set the predominant reading order for text to right-to-left. This option has no direct effect on the document's contents or page numbering but can be used to determine the relative positioning of pages when displayed side by side or printed n-up
Allowed values:
  • true, 1 or on
  • false, 0 or off
Default: False

Miscellaneous

-debug-log
Turn on the debug logging. Details about the conversion are stored in the debug log. The URL of the log can be obtained from the getDebugLogUrl method or available in conversion statistics.
Allowed values:
  • true, 1 or on
  • false, 0 or off
Default: False
-tag
Tag the conversion with a custom value. The tag is used in conversion statistics. A value longer than 32 characters is cut off.
Example:
  • "client-1234"