PDF to Text - Command Line Guide

This page is a guide on using Pdfcrowd API to extract text from PDF from the command line.

Installation

You can install the application from PyPI 
pip install pdfcrowd

Check out other installation options.

Quick Start

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

pdf2text -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    "/path/to/invoice.pdf" > "invoice.txt"
pdf2text -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    "https://pdfcrowd.com/static/pdf/apisamples/invoice.pdf" > "invoice.txt"

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, consider starting a free API trial or purchasing the API license.

Troubleshooting

  • If you are receiving an error, refer to the API Status Codes for more information.
  • Utilize -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.

User Manual

Refer to the PDF to Text Command Line Reference Manual for a description of all command line options.