PDF to PDF via HTTP API

Overview

This page serves as a guide for using the PDFCrowd API to join or split PDF files, or update PDF attributes. You can call the API by sending an HTTP request to the API server address with options passed as POST data.

Quick Start

Below are examples to help you quickly get started with the API. Explore our additional examples for more insights.

curl -f -u demo:ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d \
    -o offer.pdf \
    -F input_format=pdf \
    -F f_1=@/path/to/cover.pdf \
    -F f_2=@/path/to/proposal.pdf \
    -F f_3=@/path/to/price.pdf \
    -F f_4=@/path/to/contact.pdf \
    https://api.pdfcrowd.com/convert/24.04/

curl -f -u demo:ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d \
    -o company_offer.pdf \
    -F input_format=pdf \
    -F page_watermark=@/path/to/watermark.pdf \
    -F f_1=@/path/to/proposal.pdf \
    https://api.pdfcrowd.com/convert/24.04/

Authentication

To access the API, you will need to use your PDFCrowd username and API key. For initial testing, you may use the following demo credentials without registering:

Username: demo
API key: ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d

To obtain your personal API credentials, start a free trial or purchase the API license.

The authentication method is HTTP Basic authentication.

HTTP Basic authentication

To authenticate, add the following HTTP header to your request. <credentials> is the Base64 encoding of your username and API key joined by a single colon.

Authorization: Basic <credentials>

Server Address

The server address: https://api.pdfcrowd.com/convert/24.04/

The content type for POST requests must be `multipart/form-data` if the request uploads any local files. Otherwise, `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` can also be used.

Show older API versions.

Response Headers

The HTTP response contains the following headers.

Name	Description
x-pdfcrowd-debug-log	URL pointing to the debug log for this request.
x-pdfcrowd-remaining-credits	Number of conversion credits remaining in your account.
x-pdfcrowd-consumed-credits	Number of credits consumed for this conversion.
x-pdfcrowd-job-id	Unique identifier assigned to this conversion job.
x-pdfcrowd-pages	Total number of pages in the output document.
x-pdfcrowd-output-size	Size of the output data in bytes.
x-pdfcrowd-reason-code	The reason code of the error, or 0.

Troubleshooting

If you are receiving an error, refer to the API Status Codes for more information.
Use debug_log to obtain detailed information about the conversion process, including load errors, load times, browser console output, etc.
Consult the FAQ for answers to common questions.
Contact us if you need assistance or if there is a feature you are missing.

POST Parameter Reference

Refer to the PDF to PDF POST Reference for a description of all options.

PDF to PDF / HTTP API Guide