Extract Attachments

Available Methods

• /pdf/attachments/extract

/pdf/attachments/extract

Extracts attachments from source PDF file.

• Method: POST

• Endpoint: /v1/pdf/attachments/extract

Attributes

Note

Attributes are case-sensitive and should be inside JSON for POST request, for example:

{
    "url": "https://example.com/file1.pdf"
}

Attribute	Description	Required
url	URL to the source file. 1	yes
httpusername	HTTP auth user name if required to access source url.	no
httppassword	HTTP auth password if required to access source url.	no
inline	Set to true to return results inside the response. Otherwise, the endpoint will return a link to the output file generated. Note: only applies if async mode is true.	no
expiration	Set the expiration time for the output link in minutes (default is 60 i.e 60 minutes or 1 hour), After this specified duration, any generated output file(s) will be automatically deleted from PDF.co Temporary Files Storage. The maximum duration for link expiration varies based on your current subscription plan. To store permanent input files (e.g. re-usable images, pdf templates, documents) consider using PDF.co Built-In Files Storage.	no
password	Password of PDF file, the input must be in string format.	no
async	Set async to true for long processes to run in the background, API will then return a jobId which you can use with the Background Job Check endpoint to check the status of the process and retrieve the output while you can proceed with other tasks.	no
profiles	Use this parameter to set additional configurations for fine-tuning and extra options. Explore the Profiles section for more.	no

Query parameters

No query parameters accepted.

Payload

{
  "url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-attachments/attachments.pdf",
  "inline": false,
  "async": false
}

Response 2

{
    "urls": [
        "https://pdf-temp-files.s3.amazonaws.com/DO1TAIHEZR5P9QLI7ICYM9DI0AAH57HY/sample.png",
        "https://pdf-temp-files.s3.amazonaws.com/EOINIMD7X48JSOB1G8ETLVPOFZLM1NJ2/SampleMetafile.emf",
        "https://pdf-temp-files.s3.amazonaws.com/3LW4BXNSPAE0WQTG5DPMXX498OCPNU4Q/ab.tif"
    ],
    "pageCount": 3,
    "error": false,
    "status": 200,
    "name": "attachments.json",
    "credits": 24,
    "duration": 1211,
    "remainingCredits": 98003902
}

CURL

curl --location --request POST 'https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/attachments/extract' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'x-api-key: ' \
--data-raw '{
    "url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-attachments/attachments.pdf",
    "inline": false,
    "async": false
}'

Code samples

JavaScript / Node.js

var https = require("https");
var fs = require("fs");
var path = require("path");

// The authentication key (API Key).
// Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
const API_KEY = "***********************************";


// Source PDF file
// You can also upload your own file into PDF.co and use it as url. Check "Upload File" samples for code snippets: https://github.com/bytescout/pdf-co-api-samples/tree/master/File%20Upload/
const SourceFileUrl = "https://bytescout-com.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/files/demo-files/cloud-api/pdf-attachments/attachments.pdf";


// Prepare request for API endpoint
var queryPath = `/v1/pdf/attachments/extract`;

// JSON payload for api request
var jsonPayload = JSON.stringify({
    url: SourceFileUrl
});

var reqOptions = {
    host: "api.pdf.co",
    method: "POST",
    path: queryPath,
    headers: {
        "x-api-key": API_KEY,
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        "Content-Length": Buffer.byteLength(jsonPayload, 'utf8')
    }
};
// Send request
var postRequest = https.request(reqOptions, (response) => {

  let responseData = '';

  response.setEncoding("utf8");

  response.on("data", (chunk) => {
      responseData += chunk;
  });

  response.on("end", () => {
      // Parse JSON response
      var data = JSON.parse(responseData);
      if (data.error == false) {
          // Download extracted files
          data.urls.forEach((url) => {
              var localFileName = path.basename(url);
              var file = fs.createWriteStream(localFileName);
              https.get(url, (response2) => {
                  response2.pipe(file)
                      .on("close", () => {
                          console.log(`Generated file saved as "${localFileName}" file.`);
                      });
              });
          }, this);
      }
      else {
          // Service reported error
          console.log(data.message);
      }
  });
}).on("error", (e) => {
  // Request error
  console.error(e);
});

// Write request data
postRequest.write(jsonPayload);
postRequest.end();

Python

import requests
import json

url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/attachments/extract"

payload = json.dumps({
  "url": "https://bytescout-com.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/files/demo-files/cloud-api/pdf-attachments/attachments.pdf",
  "inline": True,
  "async": False
})
headers = {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'x-api-key': '__Replace_With_Your_PDFco_API_Key__'
}

response = requests.request("POST", url, headers=headers, data=payload)

print(response.text)

C#

using System;
using RestSharp;
namespace HelloWorldApplication {
    class HelloWorld {
        static void Main(string[] args) {
            var client = new RestClient("https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/attachments/extract");
            client.Timeout = -1;
            var request = new RestRequest(Method.POST);
            request.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
            request.AddHeader("x-api-key", "__Replace_With_Your_PDFco_API_Key__");
            var body = @"{" + "\n" +
            @"    ""url"": ""https://bytescout-com.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/files/demo-files/cloud-api/pdf-attachments/attachments.pdf""," + "\n" +
            @"    ""inline"": true," + "\n" +
            @"    ""async"": false" + "\n" +
            @"}";
            request.AddParameter("application/json", body,  ParameterType.RequestBody);
            IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
            Console.WriteLine(response.Content);
        }
    }
}

Java

import java.io.*;
import okhttp3.*;
public class main {
    public static void main(String []args) throws IOException{
        OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient().newBuilder()
            .build();
        MediaType mediaType = MediaType.parse("application/json");
        RequestBody body = RequestBody.create(mediaType, "{\n    \"url\": \"https://bytescout-com.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/files/demo-files/cloud-api/pdf-attachments/attachments.pdf\",\n    \"inline\": true,\n    \"async\": false\n}");
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
            .url("https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/attachments/extract")
            .method("POST", body)
            .addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
            .addHeader("x-api-key", "__Replace_With_Your_PDFco_API_Key__")
            .build();
        Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();
        System.out.println(response.body().string());
    }
}

PHP

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Cloud API asynchronous "Extract PDF Attachment" job example (allows to avoid timeout errors).</title>
</head>
<body>

<?php

// Cloud API asynchronous "Extract PDF Attachment" job example.
// Allows to avoid timeout errors when processing huge or scanned PDF documents.


// The authentication key (API Key).
// Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
$apiKey = "********************************";

// Direct URL of source PDF file. Check another example if you need to upload a local file to the cloud.
// You can also upload your own file into PDF.co and use it as url. Check "Upload File" samples for code snippets: https://github.com/bytescout/pdf-co-api-samples/tree/master/File%20Upload/
$sourceFileUrl = "https://bytescout-com.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/files/demo-files/cloud-api/pdf-attachments/attachments.pdf";

// Prepare URL for `Extract PDF Attachment` API call
$url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/attachments/extract";

// Prepare requests params
$parameters = array();
$parameters["url"] = $sourceFileUrl;
$parameters["async"] = true; // (!) Make asynchronous job

// Create Json payload
$data = json_encode($parameters);

// Create request
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("x-api-key: " . $apiKey, "Content-type: application/json"));
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data);

// Execute request
$result = curl_exec($curl);

if (curl_errno($curl) == 0)
{
    $status_code = curl_getinfo($curl, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);

    if ($status_code == 200)
    {
        $json = json_decode($result, true);

        if (!isset($json["error"]) || $json["error"] == false)
        {
            // URL of generated JSON file available after the job completion; it will contain URLs of result PDF files.
            $resultFileUrl = $json["url"];
            // Asynchronous job ID
            $jobId = $json["jobId"];

            // Check the job status in a loop
            do
            {
                $status = CheckJobStatus($jobId, $apiKey); // Possible statuses: "working", "failed", "aborted", "success".

                // Display timestamp and status (for demo purposes)
                echo "<p>" . date(DATE_RFC2822) . ": " . $status . "</p>";

                if ($status == "success")
                {
                    // Display link to the file with conversion results
                    echo "<div><h2>Results:</h2><a href='" . $resultFileUrl . "' target='_blank'>" . $resultFileUrl . "</a></div>";
                    break;
                }
                else if ($status == "working")
                {
                    // Pause for a few seconds
                    sleep(3);
                }
                else
                {
                    echo $status . "<br/>";
                    break;
                }
            }
            while (true);
        }
        else
        {
            // Display service reported error
            echo "<p>Error: " . $json["message"] . "</p>";
        }
    }
    else
    {
        // Display request error
        echo "<p>Status code: " . $status_code . "</p>";
        echo "<p>" . $result . "</p>";
    }
}
else
{
    // Display CURL error
    echo "Error: " . curl_error($curl);
}

// Cleanup
curl_close($curl);


function CheckJobStatus($jobId, $apiKey)
{
    $status = null;

  // Create URL
    $url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/job/check";

    // Prepare requests params
    $parameters = array();
    $parameters["jobid"] = $jobId;

    // Create Json payload
    $data = json_encode($parameters);

    // Create request
    $curl = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("x-api-key: " . $apiKey, "Content-type: application/json"));
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POST, true);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data);

    // Execute request
    $result = curl_exec($curl);

    if (curl_errno($curl) == 0)
    {
        $status_code = curl_getinfo($curl, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);

        if ($status_code == 200)
        {
            $json = json_decode($result, true);

            if (!isset($json["error"]) || $json["error"] == false)
            {
                $status = $json["status"];
            }
            else
            {
                // Display service reported error
                echo "<p>Error: " . $json["message"] . "</p>";
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Display request error
            echo "<p>Status code: " . $status_code . "</p>";
            echo "<p>" . $result . "</p>";
        }
    }
    else
    {
        // Display CURL error
        echo "Error: " . curl_error($curl);
    }

    // Cleanup
    curl_close($curl);

    return $status;
}

?>

</body>
</html>

On Github

• JavaScript samples

• Python samples

• C# samples

• Java samples

• PHP samples

• PowerShell samples

• Salesforce samples

• AWS Lambda samples

• cURL samples

Footnotes

1

Supports links from Google Drive, Dropbox, and PDF.co Built-In Files Storage. To upload files via the API check out the File Upload section. Note: If you experience intermittent Access Denied or Too Many Requests errors, please try to add cache: to enable built-in URL caching. (e.g cache:https://example.com/file1.pdf) For data security, you have the option to encrypt output files and decrypt input files. Learn more about user-controlled data encryption.

2

Main response codes as follows:

Code	Description
200	Success
400	Bad request. Typically happens because of bad input parameters, or because the input URLs can’t be reached, possibly due to access restrictions like needing a login or password.
401	Unauthorized
402	Not enough credits
445	Timeout error. To process large documents or files please use asynchronous mode (set the async parameter to true) and then check status using the /job/check endpoint. If a file contains many pages then specify a page range using the pages parameter. The number of pages of the document can be obtained using the /pdf/info endpoint.

Note

For more see the complete list of available response codes.

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