PDF to Text in PHP

This page describes how to use our cloud-based API to convert PDF to text in PHP. The API is user-friendly and can be integrated into your application with just a few lines of code.

Installation

The PHP API client library provides easy access to the Pdfcrowd API. No third-party libraries are required.

Download pdfcrowd-5.13.0-php.zip, unzip it and require pdfcrowd.php in your code.

We also offer other installation options such as Composer or GitHub.

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.

API Method Reference

Refer to the PDF to Text PHP Reference for a description of all API methods.

Code Examples

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

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

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

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

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

?>
<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

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

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertUrlToFile("https://pdfcrowd.com/static/pdf/apisamples/invoice.pdf", "invoice.txt");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

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

?>
<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

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

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertRawDataToFile(file_get_contents("/path/to/hello_world.pdf"), "invoice.txt");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

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

?>

Troubleshooting