PDF to Text in Command Line

This page describes how to use our cloud-based API to convert PDF to text from the command line.

Sample Output

Installation

Install the application from PyPI

pip install pdfcrowd

We also offer other installation options.

Authentication

The credentials to access the API are your Pdfcrowd username and the API key. You can try out the API without registering 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.

User Manual

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

Code Examples

Here are a few Command Line examples to get you started quickly with the API. See more examples.

Convert a local PDF file to a text file

pdf2text -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    "/path/to/invoice.pdf" > "invoice.txt"

Convert url with PDF file to a text file

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

Troubleshooting

Refer to the API Status Codes page if the API returns an error.
You can use -debug-log to get detailed info about the conversion, such as load errors, load times, browser console output, etc.
Check the FAQ.
Contact us if you need help or missing a feature.