PDF to PDF in PHP

This page describes how to join multiple PDF files or update PDF attributes in PHP using the Pdfcrowd API. The API is easy to use and the integration takes only a few of lines of code.

Samples

1st PDF +

2nd PDF ⇒

Resulting PDF

Installation

Download pdfcrowd-5.6.2-php.zip, unzip it and require pdfcrowd.php in your code.

We also offer other installation options (Composer, GitHub).

Authentication

Authentication is needed in order to use the Pdfcrowd API. The credentials used for accessing the API are your Pdfcrowd username and the API key.

You can try out the API without registration using the following demo credentials:

Username: demo
API key: ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d

To get your personal API credentials, you can start a free API trial or buy the API license.

Examples

Join 4 local PDF files together to a PDF file

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/cover.pdf");
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/proposal.pdf");
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/price.pdf");
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/contact.pdf");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertToFile("offer.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Join 4 local PDF files together to in-memory PDF

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/cover.pdf");
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/proposal.pdf");
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/price.pdf");
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/contact.pdf");

    // run the conversion and store the result into the "pdf" variable
    $pdf = $client->convert();

    // at this point the "pdf" variable contains PDF raw data and
    // can be sent in an HTTP response, saved to a file, etc.
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Join 4 local PDF files together and write the resulting PDF to an output stream

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/cover.pdf");
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/proposal.pdf");
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/price.pdf");
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/contact.pdf");

    // create an output stream for the conversion result
    $output_stream = fopen("offer.pdf", "wb");

    // check for a file creation error
    if (!$output_stream)
        throw new \Exception(error_get_last()['message']);

    // run the conversion and write the result into the output stream
    $client->convertToStream($output_stream);

    // close the output stream
    fclose($output_stream);
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Join 4 in-memory PDFs together to a PDF file

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->addPdfRawData(file_get_contents("/path/to/cover.pdf"));
    $client->addPdfRawData(file_get_contents("/path/to/proposal.pdf"));
    $client->addPdfRawData(file_get_contents("/path/to/price.pdf"));
    $client->addPdfRawData(file_get_contents("/path/to/contact.pdf"));

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertToFile("offer.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Join 2 in-memory PDFs together with 2 local PDF files to a PDF file

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->addPdfRawData(file_get_contents("/path/to/cover.pdf"));
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/proposal.pdf");
    $client->addPdfRawData(file_get_contents("/path/to/price.pdf"));
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/contact.pdf");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertToFile("offer.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Add a watermark to a PDF file

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/proposal.pdf");
    $client->setPageWatermark("/path/to/watermark.pdf");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertToFile("company_offer.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Linearize a PDF file

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->addPdfFile("/path/to/not_linearized.pdf");
    $client->setLinearize(true);

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertToFile("linearized.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Get info about the current conversion

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setDebugLog(true);
    $client->addPdfRawData(file_get_contents("/path/to/cover.pdf"));
    $client->addPdfRawData(file_get_contents("/path/to/proposal.pdf"));

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertToFile("offer.pdf");
    
    // print URL to the debug log
    echo "Debug log url: " . $client->getDebugLogUrl() . "\n";
    
    // print the number of available conversion credits in your account
    echo "Remaining credit count: " . $client->getRemainingCreditCount() . "\n";
    
    // print the number of credits consumed by the conversion
    echo "Consumed credit count: " . $client->getConsumedCreditCount() . "\n";
    
    // print the unique ID of the conversion
    echo "Job id: " . $client->getJobId() . "\n";
    
    // print the total number of pages in the output document
    echo "Page count: " . $client->getPageCount() . "\n";
    
    // print the size of the output in bytes
    echo "Output size: " . $client->getOutputSize() . "\n";
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Troubleshooting

List of API Status Codes if an error code is returned.
You can use setDebugLog and getDebugLogUrl to get detailed info about the conversion, such as conversion errors, time, console output.
Take a look at the FAQ section.
Are you missing a feature? Contact us, we look forward to your suggestions.

API Method Reference

Refer for details to the API Method Reference.