algorembrant/pdf-master

PDF Manipulator

A comprehensive, single-file command-line toolkit for all PDF page manipulation operations. Merge, split, remove, rotate, crop, watermark, encrypt, number, reorder, and batch-process PDF files with a clean and intuitive CLI.

Author: algorembrant

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Features

Feature	Command	Description
Merge PDFs	merge	Combine multiple PDFs into one, or interleave pages
Split PDF	split	Split into individual pages or page ranges
Remove Pages	remove	Remove one or more pages by number or range
Extract Pages	extract	Extract specific pages into a new PDF
Reorder Pages	reorder	Rearrange pages in any custom order
Rotate Pages	rotate	Rotate pages by 90, 180, or 270 degrees
Reverse Pages	reverse	Reverse the page order
Duplicate Pages	duplicate	Duplicate specific pages N times
Insert Blank Page	insert-blank	Insert blank page before or after a position
Insert PDF Pages	insert	Insert pages from another PDF at a position
Replace Pages	replace	Replace pages with pages from another PDF
Crop Pages	crop	Crop pages to a custom bounding box
Scale / Resize	scale	Scale pages by factor or resize to A4/letter
Watermark	watermark	Add text or PDF watermark to all pages
Stamp / Overlay	stamp	Overlay a stamp PDF on pages
Page Numbers	number	Add page numbers at any position
Encrypt	encrypt	Password-protect a PDF
Decrypt	decrypt	Remove password from a PDF
Metadata	metadata	View or edit PDF title, author, subject, keywords
Bookmarks	bookmarks	List or add bookmark/outline entries
Extract Text	text	Extract plain text from pages
Info / Inspect	info	Display page count, dimensions, and metadata
N-Up Layout	nup	Arrange multiple pages per sheet (2x1, 2x2, etc.)
Compress	compress	Losslessly compress PDF streams
Batch Remove	batch-remove	Remove pages from all PDFs in a directory
Batch Merge	batch-merge	Merge all PDFs in a directory into one
Batch Split	batch-split	Split all PDFs in a directory into pages

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Requirements

• Python 3.9 or newer
• System dependency: Poppler (required for nup command only)

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Installation

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/algorembrant/pdf-manipulator.git
cd pdf-manipulator

2. Install Python Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Install Poppler (Required for N-Up Layout)

The nup command uses pdf2image, which requires Poppler to be installed on your system.

Platform	Install Command
Ubuntu/Debian	sudo apt-get install -y poppler-utils
macOS	brew install poppler
Windows	Download from https://github.com/oschwartz10612/poppler-windows/releases and add bin/ to your PATH

If you do not need the nup command, Poppler is not required.

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Usage

Page Range Syntax

Syntax	Meaning
3	Page 3 only
1,3,5	Pages 1, 3, and 5
2-5	Pages 2 through 5 inclusive
1,3-5,7	Pages 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7

Pages are always 1-indexed (first page = 1).

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Step-by-Step Guide

Merge PDFs

# Merge two or more PDFs in order
python pdf_manipulator.py merge -i file1.pdf file2.pdf file3.pdf -o merged.pdf

# Interleave pages (page 1 from file1, page 1 from file2, page 2 from file1, ...)
python pdf_manipulator.py merge -i file1.pdf file2.pdf -o interleaved.pdf --interleave

Split PDF

# Split into individual pages (saved to a directory)
python pdf_manipulator.py split -i input.pdf -o ./split_pages

# Extract a range of pages into a single file
python pdf_manipulator.py split -i input.pdf -o ./split_pages --range 1-5
python pdf_manipulator.py split -i input.pdf -o ./split_pages --range 2,4,6

Remove Pages

# Remove page 3
python pdf_manipulator.py remove -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --pages 3

# Remove multiple pages
python pdf_manipulator.py remove -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --pages 1,3,5

# Remove a range of pages
python pdf_manipulator.py remove -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --pages 2-5

# Remove mixed selection
python pdf_manipulator.py remove -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --pages 1,3-5,7

Extract Pages

# Extract pages 1-3 into a new PDF
python pdf_manipulator.py extract -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --pages 1-3

# Extract specific pages
python pdf_manipulator.py extract -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --pages 2,4,6

Reorder Pages

# Place page 3 first, then page 1, then page 2, then page 4
python pdf_manipulator.py reorder -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --order 3,1,2,4

Rotate Pages

# Rotate all pages 90 degrees clockwise
python pdf_manipulator.py rotate -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --angle 90

# Rotate only pages 1 and 3 by 180 degrees
python pdf_manipulator.py rotate -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --angle 180 --pages 1,3

# Rotate pages 2-4 by 270 degrees
python pdf_manipulator.py rotate -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --angle 270 --pages 2-4

Reverse Page Order

python pdf_manipulator.py reverse -i input.pdf -o output.pdf

Duplicate Pages

# Duplicate page 2 so it appears 3 times in a row
python pdf_manipulator.py duplicate -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --pages 2 --times 3

Insert Blank Pages

# Insert a blank page after page 2
python pdf_manipulator.py insert-blank -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --after 2

# Insert a blank page before page 1
python pdf_manipulator.py insert-blank -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --before 1

Insert Pages from Another PDF

# Insert all pages from extra.pdf after page 3 of base.pdf
python pdf_manipulator.py insert -i base.pdf --insert-file extra.pdf -o output.pdf --after 3

# Insert before page 2
python pdf_manipulator.py insert -i base.pdf --insert-file extra.pdf -o output.pdf --before 2

Replace Pages

# Replace page 2 of base.pdf with page 1 of new.pdf
python pdf_manipulator.py replace -i base.pdf --replace-file new.pdf -o output.pdf --pages 2 --replace-pages 1

Crop Pages

# Crop all pages (coordinates in PDF points: left,bottom,right,top)
python pdf_manipulator.py crop -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --box "50,50,500,700"

# Crop only pages 1-3
python pdf_manipulator.py crop -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --box "50,50,500,700" --pages 1-3

Scale / Resize Pages

# Scale all pages to 50% of original size
python pdf_manipulator.py scale -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --factor 0.5

# Resize all pages to A4
python pdf_manipulator.py scale -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --to-size A4

# Resize to US Letter
python pdf_manipulator.py scale -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --to-size letter

Add Watermark

# Add a text watermark with defaults (red diagonal, 15% opacity)
python pdf_manipulator.py watermark -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --text "CONFIDENTIAL"

# Custom opacity and angle
python pdf_manipulator.py watermark -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --text "DRAFT" --opacity 0.3 --angle 45

# Use a PDF file as watermark
python pdf_manipulator.py watermark -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --watermark-pdf wm.pdf

Stamp / Overlay

# Overlay stamp.pdf on all pages
python pdf_manipulator.py stamp -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --stamp-pdf stamp.pdf

# Overlay on page 1 only
python pdf_manipulator.py stamp -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --stamp-pdf stamp.pdf --pages 1

Add Page Numbers

# Add page numbers at bottom center (default)
python pdf_manipulator.py number -i input.pdf -o output.pdf

# Custom position and starting number
python pdf_manipulator.py number -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --position bottom-right --start 1

# Custom format string
python pdf_manipulator.py number -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --position top-right --format "Page {n}"

Available positions: bottom-center, bottom-left, bottom-right, top-center, top-left, top-right

Encrypt / Decrypt

# Encrypt with a user password
python pdf_manipulator.py encrypt -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --user-pass mypassword

# Encrypt with both user and owner password
python pdf_manipulator.py encrypt -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --user-pass mypassword --owner-pass ownerpassword

# Decrypt / remove password
python pdf_manipulator.py decrypt -i encrypted.pdf -o decrypted.pdf --password mypassword

Metadata

# View metadata
python pdf_manipulator.py metadata -i input.pdf

# Set metadata fields
python pdf_manipulator.py metadata -i input.pdf -o output.pdf \
  --set-title "Annual Report 2024" \
  --set-author "algorembrant" \
  --set-subject "Finance" \
  --set-keywords "annual,report,finance"

Bookmarks / Outline

# List all bookmarks
python pdf_manipulator.py bookmarks -i input.pdf

# Add bookmarks
python pdf_manipulator.py bookmarks -i input.pdf -o output.pdf \
  --add "Introduction:1,Chapter 1:3,Chapter 2:8"

Extract Text

# Print text from all pages
python pdf_manipulator.py text -i input.pdf

# Extract text from pages 1-3 and save to file
python pdf_manipulator.py text -i input.pdf --pages 1-3 -o extracted.txt

PDF Info

python pdf_manipulator.py info -i input.pdf

N-Up Layout (Requires Poppler)

# 2 pages side-by-side on one sheet
python pdf_manipulator.py nup -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --layout 2x1

# 4 pages in a 2x2 grid on one sheet
python pdf_manipulator.py nup -i input.pdf -o output.pdf --layout 2x2

Compress

python pdf_manipulator.py compress -i input.pdf -o output.pdf

Batch Operations

# Remove page 1 (e.g. cover page) from all PDFs in a directory
python pdf_manipulator.py batch-remove --dir ./pdfs --pages 1 --suffix _no_cover

# Merge all PDFs in a directory into one
python pdf_manipulator.py batch-merge --dir ./pdfs -o merged_all.pdf

# Split all PDFs in a directory into individual pages
python pdf_manipulator.py batch-split --dir ./pdfs --out-dir ./split_output

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Notes

• All page numbers are 1-indexed (first page is page 1).
• The nup command requires Poppler to be installed on your system.
• For encrypted PDFs, use the --password flag with any command that reads them (decrypt first, or add password support per command as needed).
• Output directories are created automatically if they do not exist.

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License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

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Author

algorembrant