# PDF Handling > PDF creation, text extraction, merging, splitting, and form-filling. - Skill: `furkangonel/pdf-handling` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add furkangonel/pdf-handling` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/furkangonel/pdf-handling/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Docs & Writing - Author: furkangonel (https://skillmd.com/u/furkangonel) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/furkangonel/pdf-handling --- # PDF Handling SOP Select the right tool for each PDF job and execute it correctly. Covers text extraction, merging, splitting, HTML-to-PDF conversion, form filling, and scanned PDF (OCR) handling. ## When to Use - User wants to extract text or tables from a PDF - User wants to merge multiple PDFs into one - User wants to split a PDF into separate files - User wants to create a PDF from HTML, Markdown, or data - User wants to fill fields in a PDF form - User wants to process a scanned (image-based) PDF --- ## Part 1 — Tool Selection Guide | Task | Best tool | Install | |------|-----------|---------| | Extract text (digital PDF) | `pdfplumber` | `pip install pdfplumber` | | Extract tables | `pdfplumber` | `pip install pdfplumber` | | Merge / split / rotate pages | `pypdf` | `pip install pypdf` | | Create PDF from scratch (programmatic) | `reportlab` | `pip install reportlab` | | Convert HTML / CSS to PDF | `weasyprint` | `pip install weasyprint` | | Convert Markdown to PDF | `weasyprint` + `markdown` | `pip install weasyprint markdown` | | Fill PDF forms | `pypdf` or `pdfrw` | `pip install pypdf` | | Scanned PDF — OCR | `pytesseract` + `pdf2image` | `pip install pytesseract pdf2image` + system `tesseract` | | Encrypt / decrypt | `pypdf` | `pip install pypdf` | --- ## Part 2 — Text Extraction ### Digital PDF — Plain Text ```python import pdfplumber with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf: for page_num, page in enumerate(pdf.pages, 1): text = page.extract_text() if text: print(f"=== Page {page_num} ===") print(text) ``` ### Extract Text from Specific Pages ```python with pdfplumber.open("report.pdf") as pdf: # Pages 2-5 (0-indexed: pages[1:5]) for page in pdf.pages[1:5]: text = page.extract_text(x_tolerance=3, y_tolerance=3) print(text) ``` ### Extract Text with Coordinates (for layout-aware parsing) ```python with pdfplumber.open("form.pdf") as pdf: page = pdf.pages[0] words = page.extract_words() for word in words: print(f" '{word['text']}' at x={word['x0']:.0f}, y={word['top']:.0f}") ``` ### Extract All Text to a File ```python import pdfplumber def pdf_to_text(input_path, output_path): with pdfplumber.open(input_path) as pdf: with open(output_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as out: for page in pdf.pages: text = page.extract_text() or "" out.write(text) out.write("\n\n") print(f"Extracted {len(pdf.pages)} pages to {output_path}") pdf_to_text("input.pdf", "output.txt") ``` --- ## Part 3 — Table Extraction ```python import pdfplumber, csv with pdfplumber.open("report.pdf") as pdf: all_tables = [] for page in pdf.pages: tables = page.extract_tables() for table in tables: all_tables.extend(table) # Write to CSV with open("tables.csv", "w", newline="", encoding="utf-8") as f: writer = csv.writer(f) writer.writerows(all_tables) print(f"Extracted {len(all_tables)} rows") ``` ### Fine-tuned Table Extraction ```python with pdfplumber.open("complex.pdf") as pdf: page = pdf.pages[0] table = page.extract_table({ "vertical_strategy": "lines", # "lines", "text", "explicit" "horizontal_strategy": "lines", "snap_tolerance": 3, "join_tolerance": 3, "edge_min_length": 3, "min_words_vertical": 1, }) for row in table: print(row) ``` --- ## Part 4 — Merge, Split, and Rotate ### Merge Multiple PDFs ```python from pypdf import PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter() files = ["chapter1.pdf", "chapter2.pdf", "appendix.pdf"] for path in files: writer.append(path) with open("combined.pdf", "wb") as out: writer.write(out) print(f"Merged {len(files)} files → combined.pdf") ``` ### Split — Extract a Range of Pages ```python from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter reader = PdfReader("large_report.pdf") writer = PdfWriter() # Extract pages 3–7 (0-indexed: 2–6) for page_num in range(2, 7): writer.add_page(reader.pages[page_num]) with open("pages_3_to_7.pdf", "wb") as out: writer.write(out) ``` ### Split — One File Per Page ```python from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter import os reader = PdfReader("document.pdf") os.makedirs("pages", exist_ok=True) for i, page in enumerate(reader.pages): writer = PdfWriter() writer.add_page(page) with open(f"pages/page_{i+1:03d}.pdf", "wb") as out: writer.write(out) print(f"Split into {len(reader.pages)} files in pages/") ``` ### Rotate Pages ```python from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter reader = PdfReader("sideways.pdf") writer = PdfWriter() for page in reader.pages: page.rotate(90) # 90, 180, or 270 degrees writer.add_page(page) with open("rotated.pdf", "wb") as out: writer.write(out) ``` --- ## Part 5 — Create PDFs ### HTML / CSS → PDF (weasyprint) ```python from weasyprint import HTML, CSS html_content = """

Quarterly Report — Q2 2026

Generated: May 18, 2026

ItemRevenueGrowth
Product A$120,000+12%
Product B$85,000+5%
""" HTML(string=html_content).write_pdf("report.pdf") print("Created report.pdf") ``` ### Markdown → PDF ```python import markdown from weasyprint import HTML with open("README.md", "r") as f: md_content = f.read() html_body = markdown.markdown(md_content, extensions=["tables", "fenced_code"]) full_html = f""" {html_body} """ HTML(string=full_html).write_pdf("output.pdf") ``` ### Programmatic PDF with reportlab ```python from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import A4 from reportlab.lib.units import mm from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas def create_invoice(filename, data): c = canvas.Canvas(filename, pagesize=A4) width, height = A4 # Header c.setFont("Helvetica-Bold", 24) c.drawString(20*mm, height - 30*mm, "INVOICE") c.setFont("Helvetica", 11) c.drawString(20*mm, height - 42*mm, f"Invoice #: {data['number']}") c.drawString(20*mm, height - 50*mm, f"Date: {data['date']}") # Line items y = height - 80*mm c.setFont("Helvetica-Bold", 10) c.drawString(20*mm, y, "Description") c.drawString(120*mm, y, "Amount") y -= 8*mm c.line(20*mm, y, 190*mm, y) y -= 6*mm c.setFont("Helvetica", 10) for item in data["items"]: c.drawString(20*mm, y, item["description"]) c.drawRightString(190*mm, y, f"${item['amount']:,.2f}") y -= 7*mm # Total y -= 5*mm c.line(20*mm, y, 190*mm, y) y -= 8*mm c.setFont("Helvetica-Bold", 12) c.drawString(120*mm, y, "Total:") c.drawRightString(190*mm, y, f"${data['total']:,.2f}") c.save() create_invoice("invoice.pdf", { "number": "INV-2026-042", "date": "May 18, 2026", "items": [ {"description": "Consulting — 10 hours @ $150/hr", "amount": 1500}, {"description": "Setup fee", "amount": 250}, ], "total": 1750, }) ``` --- ## Part 6 — Scanned PDFs (OCR) > Scanned PDFs are images. `pdfplumber` returns no text — you must OCR first. ```bash # System requirements brew install tesseract # macOS sudo apt-get install tesseract-ocr # Ubuntu/Debian pip install pytesseract pdf2image ``` ```python import pytesseract from pdf2image import convert_from_path # Convert PDF pages to images, then OCR each pages = convert_from_path("scanned.pdf", dpi=300) full_text = [] for i, page_image in enumerate(pages, 1): text = pytesseract.image_to_string(page_image, lang="eng") print(f"=== Page {i} ===") print(text) full_text.append(text) with open("scanned_output.txt", "w", encoding="utf-8") as f: f.write("\n\n".join(full_text)) ``` --- ## Part 7 — Encrypt and Decrypt ```python from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter # Encrypt reader = PdfReader("document.pdf") writer = PdfWriter() writer.append_pages_from_reader(reader) writer.encrypt(user_password="view123", owner_password="admin456", use_128bit=True) with open("protected.pdf", "wb") as f: writer.write(f) # Decrypt reader = PdfReader("protected.pdf") if reader.is_encrypted: reader.decrypt("view123") writer = PdfWriter() writer.append_pages_from_reader(reader) with open("unlocked.pdf", "wb") as f: writer.write(f) ``` --- ## Common Pitfalls | Problem | Cause | Fix | |---------|-------|-----| | `extract_text()` returns empty string | Scanned PDF (image-based) | Use OCR (Part 6) | | Garbled text order | Complex multi-column layout | Try `extract_words()` with coordinate sorting | | `weasyprint` missing fonts | System fonts not found | Install system font packages | | Table extraction misses columns | Poor line detection | Adjust `vertical_strategy` to `"text"` | | Large PDF slow to process | All pages loaded at once | Process page-by-page in a loop | --- ## Checklist - [ ] Identified whether PDF is digital (has selectable text) or scanned (image) - [ ] Chose correct tool for the task (extraction vs creation vs merge) - [ ] Scanned PDFs routed through OCR pipeline - [ ] For HTML→PDF, tested output at target paper size (A4 or Letter) - [ ] Merged output verified with page count check - [ ] Large PDFs processed page-by-page to avoid memory issues