blog:odborny:2025-05-07-command-line_tools_for_pdf_processing
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| blog:odborny:2025-05-07-command-line_tools_for_pdf_processing [2025/05/08 14:43] – [Case #000: Minimize PDF size] Róbert Toth | blog:odborny:2025-05-07-command-line_tools_for_pdf_processing [2026/05/15 13:10] (aktuálne) – Róbert Toth | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Riadok 6: | Riadok 6: | ||
| * … | * … | ||
| - | TODO | + | Due to the nature of the topic, this post is (and probably will remain) a work-in-progress. |
| ===== General: Overview of PDF-processing and manipulation tools ===== | ===== General: Overview of PDF-processing and manipulation tools ===== | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== Coherent PDF (cpdf) ==== | ||
| + | * **Download: | ||
| + | * **Changelog: | ||
| + | * **Manual: | ||
| ==== MuPDF (mutool) ==== | ==== MuPDF (mutool) ==== | ||
| Riadok 15: | Riadok 21: | ||
| * https:// | * https:// | ||
| * https:// | * https:// | ||
| - | * **Manual: | + | * **Manual: |
| + | |||
| + | ==== pdfcpu ==== | ||
| + | * **Download: | ||
| + | * **Changelog: | ||
| + | * **Manual: | ||
| ==== PDFtk server (pdftk) ==== | ==== PDFtk server (pdftk) ==== | ||
| Riadok 22: | Riadok 33: | ||
| * **Manual: | * **Manual: | ||
| - | ==== Coherent PDF (cpdf) | + | ==== QPDF ==== |
| - | * **Download: | + | * **Download: |
| - | * **Changelog: | + | * **Changelog: |
| - | * **Manual: | + | * **Manual: |
| - | + | ||
| - | ==== pdfcpu ==== | + | |
| - | * **Download: | + | |
| - | * **Changelog: | + | |
| - | * **Manual: | + | |
| < | < | ||
| Riadok 41: | Riadok 47: | ||
| </ | </ | ||
| - | ==== Other (non-tested) tools ==== | + | ==== Other (non-/not-yet-tested) tools ==== |
| - | * **QPDF: | + | TODO |
| - | * … | + | |
| < | < | ||
| <!-- | <!-- | ||
| Riadok 50: | Riadok 55: | ||
| </ | </ | ||
| - | ===== Case #000: Minimize PDF size ===== | + | |
| + | ===== - Minimize PDF size ===== | ||
| **Example use-case:** Obvious. | **Example use-case:** Obvious. | ||
| - | ==== cpdf ==== | + | ==== TL;DR: Summary first ==== |
| + | * **Effectiveness of the tools** (ordered by file size): | ||
| + | * <color green> | ||
| + | * ❶ Acrobat wins (but is paid), ❷ mutool is second & free (but is hard to configure), ❸ cpdf is third but is easiest to use | ||
| + | * I have also tested all possible combinations between these tools, and the results are best when Acrobat Optimizer is followed by //yet another// tool. So… | ||
| + | * **Effectiveness of the // | ||
| + | * <color green> | ||
| + | <color blue/ | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== Coherent PDF (cpdf) | ||
| [[https:// | [[https:// | ||
| < | < | ||
| - | cpdf -squeeze "src.pdf" [-squeeze-no-recompress] -o "dst.pdf" | + | cpdf -squeeze "in.pdf" [-squeeze-no-recompress] -o "out.pdf" |
| </ | </ | ||
| Riadok 62: | Riadok 77: | ||
| [[https:// | [[https:// | ||
| < | < | ||
| - | pdfcpu optimize "src.pdf" "dst.pdf" | + | pdfcpu optimize "in.pdf" "out.pdf" |
| </ | </ | ||
| Riadok 68: | Riadok 83: | ||
| [[https:// | [[https:// | ||
| < | < | ||
| - | mutool clean -gggg -l -d -z -s "src.pdf" "dst.pdf" | + | mutool clean -gggg -l -d -z -s "in.pdf" "out.pdf" |
| </ | </ | ||
| '' | '' | ||
| Riadok 81: | Riadok 96: | ||
| * **'' | * **'' | ||
| + | ==== PDFtk server (pdftk) ==== | ||
| + | [[https:// | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | pdftk " | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | ==== QPDF ==== | ||
| + | [[https:// | ||
| + | * **'' | ||
| + | * **'' | ||
| + | * **'' | ||
| + | * **'' | ||
| + | * **'' | ||
| + | So the resulting command is: | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | qpdf " | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | ==== Adobe Acrobat ==== | ||
| + | Acrobat [[https:// | ||
| + | ; <color blue> | ||
| + | ; <color blue> | ||
| + | ; <color blue> | ||
| + | ; <color blue> | ||
| + | ; <color blue> | ||
| + | ; <color blue> | ||
| + | === ❗️" | ||
| + | This is just an addition to a note above under //<color blue> | ||
| - | ===== Case #001: Split each page of PDF into several pages (posterisation) ===== | + | Having **Discard all comments, forms and multimedia** (under **Discard User Data** tab) turned on while optimising PDF in Adobe Acrobat will also remove all internal cross-references (e.g. clickable links from Contents page to specific parts of the document). This was spotted [[https:// |
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ===== - Split each page of PDF into several pages (posterisation) ===== | ||
| **Example use-case:** you have (scanned) pages where each PDF page contains two physical pages, and want to crop those into two. | **Example use-case:** you have (scanned) pages where each PDF page contains two physical pages, and want to crop those into two. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== TL;DR: Summary first ==== | ||
| + | <color blue/ | ||
| ==== MuPDF (mutool) ==== | ==== MuPDF (mutool) ==== | ||
| [[https:// | [[https:// | ||
| < | < | ||
| - | mutool poster -x 2 "src.pdf" "dst.pdf" | + | mutool poster -x 2 "in.pdf" "out.pdf" |
| </ | </ | ||
| + | Note that '' | ||
| ==== Coherent PDF (cpdf) ==== | ==== Coherent PDF (cpdf) ==== | ||
| [[https:// | [[https:// | ||
| < | < | ||
| - | cpdf -chop "1 2" "src.pdf" -o "dst.pdf" | + | cpdf -chop "2 1" " |
| + | </ | ||
| + | Unlike MuPDF, '' | ||
| + | |||
| + | Moreover, '' | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | cpdf -chop "2 1" "in.pdf" | ||
| </ | </ | ||
| Riadok 103: | Riadok 157: | ||
| [[https:// | [[https:// | ||
| < | < | ||
| - | pdftk A=src.pdf shuffle A A output | + | pdftk A=in.pdf shuffle A A output |
| - | cpdf -mediabox "0mm 0mm a5landscape" | + | cpdf -mediabox "0mm 0mm a5landscape" |
| - | cpdf -mediabox " | + | cpdf -mediabox " |
| </ | </ | ||
| The second step might also be done in Adobe Acrobat "Crop pages" function. | The second step might also be done in Adobe Acrobat "Crop pages" function. | ||
| + | ==== QPDF ==== | ||
| + | N/A (not tested yet TODO) | ||
| - | ===== Case #002: Crop pages of PDF ===== | + | |
| + | ===== - Crop pages of PDF ===== | ||
| See MuPDF documentation on [[https:// | See MuPDF documentation on [[https:// | ||
| Riadok 126: | Riadok 183: | ||
| - Go to "Edit PDF" and then "Crop pages" function. | - Go to "Edit PDF" and then "Crop pages" function. | ||
| + | ==== QPDF ==== | ||
| + | N/A (not tested yet TODO) | ||
| - | ===== Case #003: Remove cropped content from PDF ===== | + | |
| + | ===== - Remove cropped content from PDF ===== | ||
| **Example use-case:** You have cropped some pages but you want to actually remove the content, since otherwise it is only hidden but remains in PDF – this can be seen when you inspect the PDF in Adobe Acrobat via "Edit PDF" and zoom out the page – the cropped content will be selectable, although not visible, since it is out of the page margins. | **Example use-case:** You have cropped some pages but you want to actually remove the content, since otherwise it is only hidden but remains in PDF – this can be seen when you inspect the PDF in Adobe Acrobat via "Edit PDF" and zoom out the page – the cropped content will be selectable, although not visible, since it is out of the page margins. | ||
| - | According to author, it seems that [[https:// | + | According to its author, it seems that [[https:// |
| ==== MuPDF (mutool) ==== | ==== MuPDF (mutool) ==== | ||
| [[https:// | [[https:// | ||
| < | < | ||
| - | mutool trim -o "dst.pdf" -b cropbox "src.pdf" | + | mutool trim -o "out.pdf" -b cropbox "in.pdf" |
| </ | </ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <color red> | ||
| ==== Adobe Acrobat ==== | ==== Adobe Acrobat ==== | ||
| Riadok 143: | Riadok 205: | ||
| - Run preflight and the script | - Run preflight and the script | ||
| + | ==== QPDF ==== | ||
| + | N/A (not tested yet TODO) | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===== - Text in Calibri-created PDF files cannot be copied/ | ||
| + | Preview app (or any PDFkit-based PDF viewer, such as Skim) cannot search/copy text from PDFs generated by Calibri. This is because the PDF created in such way uses CID Fonts, something which Preview app based on Apple' | ||
| + | |||
| + | This leads to a situation where **such PDF files can be properly shown and visually read, but trying to select (and copy) or search the text inside the PDF fails**. See these sources for reference: | ||
| + | * [[https:// | ||
| + | * [[https:// | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== Fixing the problem with GhostScript ==== | ||
| + | This can be fixed by converting/ | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/ | ||
| + | -dPrinted=false -dQUIET -sOutputFile=" | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | This was mentioned [[https:// | ||
| + | |||
| + | GhostScript can be installed e.g. by MacPorts: | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | sudo port install ghostscript | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ===== - Decompress the whole PDF for editing in text editor ===== | ||
| + | **Example use-case:** There are some cases when you need to see or edit the actual text contents of the PDF. For example, there are some metadata at the level of individual pages (like ) which no existing program will actually clean (Acrobat "Find hidden information" | ||
| + | |||
| + | So directly editing text contents of the PDF might come in handy. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== TL;DR: Summary first ==== | ||
| + | <color blue/ | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== Coherent PDF (cpdf) ==== | ||
| + | [[https:// | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | cpdf -decompress [-no-preserve-objstm] " | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | As mentioned by manual, '' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <color red> | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== MuPDF (mutool) ==== | ||
| + | [[https:// | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | mutool clean -d " | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | '' | ||
| + | |||
| + | There is one additional switch which deals with PDF decompression: | ||
| + | |||
| + | Of all tested tools, '' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <color red> | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== pdfcpu ==== | ||
| + | pdfcpu does not seem to support decompressing PDFs. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== PDFtk server (pdftk) ==== | ||
| + | [[https:// | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | pdftk " | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | PDFtk separates individual PDF dictionary elements by newlines ('' | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | << | ||
| + | / | ||
| + | /Metadata 23 0 R | ||
| + | /Rotate 0 | ||
| + | /Resources 24 0 R | ||
| + | /Type /Page | ||
| + | /Parent 25 0 R | ||
| + | /Contents 26 0 R | ||
| + | /MediaBox [0 0 370.158 591.26] | ||
| + | /CropBox [0 0 370.158 591.26] | ||
| + | >> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | It also adds its own elements (e.g. ''/ | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ==== QPDF ==== | ||
| + | [[https:// | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | qpdf " | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | This will effectively equivalent to using both [[https:// | ||
| + | |||
| + | There is also another switch, '' | ||
| + | |||
| + | QPDF currently [[https:// | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ===== - Resetting PDF page coordinates (remove CropBox/ | ||
| + | **Example use-case:** you have a PDF with pages consisting of scanned images, which are cropped accordingly so that each page is the same size and the real scanned page is situated properly inside the PDF page. You want to OCR these pages (using Adobe Acrobat' | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== TL;DR: Summary first ==== | ||
| + | <color blue/ | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== Coherent PDF (cpdf) ==== | ||
| + | Although listed under " | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | cpdf -upright " | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ===== - Make Adobe Acrobat appear in "Open with" menu for images ===== | ||
| + | * **Example use-case #1:** You want to create PDF from image // | ||
| + | * **Example use-case #2:** You have a series of scanned pages which you want to combine into a PDF. When you open several images with Acrobat, it will automatically ask you whether you want to combine them into single PDF file. Again, this would be perfect, if you were allowed to open those images in Acrobat… | ||
| + | |||
| + | Adobe Acrobat is perfectly capable of opening common image types (e.g. '' | ||
| + | * either manually locate the '' | ||
| + | * //or// you can open the image from Acrobat, but in this case you must click the '' | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== Solution: Manually adding images as Acrobat-recognized file types ==== | ||
| + | - Locate '' | ||
| + | - Make a backup copy of the file (this will ask for a password, since Acrobat installs itself with extra permissions). | ||
| + | - Open '' | ||
| + | - Add the following lines to the beginning of the ''< | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | <!-- FurloSK BEGIN: added jpg, tiff, png extensions --> | ||
| + | <!-- after changing, run this command to refresh system associations: | ||
| + | / | ||
| + | --> | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <!-- FurloSK END: added jpg, tiff, png extensions --> | ||
| + | <!-- … continuing with the default Document Types --> | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | … | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | - After this, force macOS to refresh file types associations from Acrobat by running:< | ||
| + | / | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | - Done! '' | ||
| + | |||
| + | === Possible code-signing issue (" | ||
| + | This is not happening specifically with Acrobat, but generally speaking, when you change an app's '' | ||
| + | |||
| + | Original source: [[https:// | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ===== New cases to come… ===== | ||
| < | < | ||
| - | <!-- | + | < |
| - | ===== Case # | + | ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— |
| + | <!-- New Case Template BEGIN | ||
| + | ===== - New Case TODO ===== | ||
| **Example use-case:** TODO. | **Example use-case:** TODO. | ||
| - | ==== TODO ==== | + | ==== TL;DR: Summary first ==== |
| + | <color blue/ | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== Coherent PDF (cpdf) ==== | ||
| + | [[https:// | ||
| < | < | ||
| - | TODO | + | cpdf -TODO " |
| </ | </ | ||
| - | --> | + | |
| + | ==== MuPDF (mutool) ==== | ||
| + | [[https:// | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | mutool TODO " | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== pdfcpu ==== | ||
| + | [[https:// | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | pdfcpu TODO " | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== PDFtk server (pdftk) ==== | ||
| + | [[https:// | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | pdftk " | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== QPDF ==== | ||
| + | [[https:// | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | qpdf " | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | -->< | ||
| </ | </ | ||
| Riadok 159: | Riadok 432: | ||
| ~~socialite~~ | ~~socialite~~ | ||
| {{tag> | {{tag> | ||
| + | ; Page visits : ~~QUICKSTATS: | ||
| + | ; total : {{counter|total}} | ||
| + | ; today : {{counter|today}} | ||
| ===== Comments ===== | ===== Comments ===== | ||
blog/odborny/2025-05-07-command-line_tools_for_pdf_processing.1746708233.txt.gz · Posledná úprava: 2025/05/08 14:43 od Róbert Toth