PDF Info Reader#

Get detailed information about a PDF document, it’s properties and security permissions.

Note

For one-time check of PDF file information and find form fields please use PDF Edit Add Helper.

Available Methods#

/pdf/info#

Extracts basic information about an input PDF file, PDF file security permissions, and other information. If you want to extract information about fillable fields (checkboxes, radioboxes, listboxes) from PDF then please use /pdf/info/fields instead.

  • Method: POST

  • Endpoint: /v1/pdf/info

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

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-info/sample.pdf",
  "async": false
}

Response 2#

{
  "info": {
      "PageCount": 1,
      "Author": "Alice V. Knox",
      "Title": "Kid's News 1",
      "Producer": "Acrobat Distiller 4.0 for Windows",
      "Subject": "Kid's News 1",
      "CreationDate": "8/15/2001 2:50:36 PM",
      "Bookmarks": "",
      "Keywords": "",
      "Creator": "Adobe PageMaker 6.52",
      "Encrypted": false,
      "PageRectangle": {
          "Location": {
              "IsEmpty": true,
              "X": 0,
              "Y": 0
          },
          "Size": "612, 792",
          "X": 0,
          "Y": 0,
          "Width": 612,
          "Height": 792,
          "Left": 0,
          "Top": 0,
          "Right": 612,
          "Bottom": 792,
          "IsEmpty": false
      },
      "ModificationDate": "9/20/2001 6:23:02 PM",
      "EncryptionAlgorithm": 0,
      "PermissionPrinting": true,
      "PermissionModifyDocument": true,
      "PermissionContentExtraction": true,
      "PermissionModifyAnnotations": true,
      "PermissionFillForms": true,
      "PermissionAccessibility": true,
      "PermissionAssemble": true,
      "PermissionHighQualityPrint": true
  },
  "error": false,
  "status": 200,
  "remainingCredits": 77732
}

CURL#

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


Code samples#

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

// `request` module is required for file upload.
// Use "npm install request" command to install.
var request = require("request");

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


// Source PDF file to get information
const SourceFile = "./sample.pdf";


// 1. RETRIEVE THE PRESIGNED URL TO UPLOAD THE FILE.
getPresignedUrl(API_KEY, SourceFile)
    .then(([uploadUrl, uploadedFileUrl]) => {
        // 2. UPLOAD THE FILE TO CLOUD.
        uploadFile(API_KEY, SourceFile, uploadUrl)
            .then(() => {
                // 3. GET INFORMATION FROM UPLOADED FILE
                getPdfInfo(API_KEY, uploadedFileUrl);
            })
            .catch(e => {
                console.log(e);
            });
    })
    .catch(e => {
        console.log(e);
    });


function getPresignedUrl(apiKey, localFile) {
    return new Promise(resolve => {
        // Prepare request to `Get Presigned URL` API endpoint
        let queryPath = `/v1/file/upload/get-presigned-url?contenttype=application/octet-stream&name=${path.basename(SourceFile)}`;
        let reqOptions = {
            host: "api.pdf.co",
            path: encodeURI(queryPath),
            headers: { "x-api-key": API_KEY }
        };
        // Send request
        https.get(reqOptions, (response) => {
            response.on("data", (d) => {
                let data = JSON.parse(d);
                if (data.error == false) {
                    // Return presigned url we received
                    resolve([data.presignedUrl, data.url]);
                }
                else {
                    // Service reported error
                    console.log("getPresignedUrl(): " + data.message);
                }
            });
        })
            .on("error", (e) => {
                // Request error
                console.log("getPresignedUrl(): " + e);
            });
    });
}

function uploadFile(apiKey, localFile, uploadUrl) {
    return new Promise(resolve => {
        fs.readFile(SourceFile, (err, data) => {
            request({
                method: "PUT",
                url: uploadUrl,
                body: data,
                headers: {
                    "Content-Type": "application/octet-stream"
                }
            }, (err, res, body) => {
                if (!err) {
                    resolve();
                }
                else {
                    console.log("uploadFile() request error: " + e);
                }
            });
        });
    });
}

function getPdfInfo(apiKey, uploadedFileUrl) {
    // Prepare URL for `PDF Info` API call
    var queryPath = `/v1/pdf/info`;

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

    var reqOptions = {
        host: "api.pdf.co",
        method: "POST",
        path: queryPath,
        headers: {
            "x-api-key": apiKey,
            "Content-Type": "application/json",
            "Content-Length": Buffer.byteLength(jsonPayload, 'utf8')
        }
    };
    // Send request
    var postRequest = https.request(reqOptions, (response) => {
        response.on("data", (d) => {
            response.setEncoding("utf8");
            // Parse JSON response
            let data = JSON.parse(d);
            if (data.error == false) {
                // Display PDF document information
                for (var key in data.info) {
                    console.log(`${key}: ${data.info[key]}`);
                }
            }
            else {
                // Service reported error
                console.log("getPdfInfo(): " + data.message);
            }
        });
    })
        .on("error", (e) => {
            // Request error
            console.log("getPdfInfo(): " + e);
        });

    // Write request data
    postRequest.write(jsonPayload);
    postRequest.end();
}
import os
import requests # pip install requests

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

# Base URL for PDF.co Web API requests
BASE_URL = "https://api.pdf.co/v1"

# Source PDF file
SourceFile = ".\\sample.pdf"

def main(args = None):
    uploadedFileUrl = uploadFile(SourceFile)
    if (uploadedFileUrl != None):
        getInfoFromPDF(uploadedFileUrl)


def getInfoFromPDF(uploadedFileUrl):
    """Get Information using PDF.co Web API"""

    # Prepare requests params as JSON
    # See documentation: https://developer.pdf.co/
    parameters = {}
    parameters["url"] = uploadedFileUrl

    # Prepare URL for 'PDF Info' API request
    url = "{}/pdf/info".format(BASE_URL)

    # Execute request and get response as JSON
    response = requests.post(url, data=parameters, headers={ "x-api-key": API_KEY })
    if (response.status_code == 200):
        json = response.json()

        if json["error"] == False:
            # Display information
            print(json["info"])
        else:
            # Show service reported error
            print(json["message"])
    else:
        print(f"Request error: {response.status_code} {response.reason}")


def uploadFile(fileName):
    """Uploads file to the cloud"""

    # 1. RETRIEVE PRESIGNED URL TO UPLOAD FILE.

    # Prepare URL for 'Get Presigned URL' API request
    url = "{}/file/upload/get-presigned-url?contenttype=application/octet-stream&name={}".format(
        BASE_URL, os.path.basename(fileName))

    # Execute request and get response as JSON
    response = requests.get(url, headers={ "x-api-key": API_KEY })
    if (response.status_code == 200):
        json = response.json()

        if json["error"] == False:
            # URL to use for file upload
            uploadUrl = json["presignedUrl"]
            # URL for future reference
            uploadedFileUrl = json["url"]

            # 2. UPLOAD FILE TO CLOUD.
            with open(fileName, 'rb') as file:
                requests.put(uploadUrl, data=file, headers={ "x-api-key": API_KEY, "content-type": "application/octet-stream" })

            return uploadedFileUrl
        else:
            # Show service reported error
            print(json["message"])
    else:
        print(f"Request error: {response.status_code} {response.reason}")

    return None


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

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

    // Source PDF file to get information
    const string SourceFile = @".\sample.pdf";

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      // Create standard .NET web client instance
      WebClient webClient = new WebClient();

      // Set API Key
      webClient.Headers.Add("x-api-key", API_KEY);

      // 1. RETRIEVE THE PRESIGNED URL TO UPLOAD THE FILE.
      // * If you already have a direct file URL, skip to the step 3.

      // Prepare URL for `Get Presigned URL` API call
      string query = Uri.EscapeUriString(string.Format(
        "https://api.pdf.co/v1/file/upload/get-presigned-url?contenttype=application/octet-stream&name={0}",
        Path.GetFileName(SourceFile)));

      try
      {
        // Execute request
        string response = webClient.DownloadString(query);

        // Parse JSON response
        JObject json = JObject.Parse(response);

        if (json["error"].ToObject<bool>() == false)
        {
          // Get URL to use for the file upload
          string uploadUrl = json["presignedUrl"].ToString();
          string uploadedFileUrl = json["url"].ToString();

          // 2. UPLOAD THE FILE TO CLOUD.

          webClient.Headers.Add("content-type", "application/octet-stream");
          webClient.UploadFile(uploadUrl, "PUT", SourceFile); // You can use UploadData() instead if your file is byte[] or Stream

          // 3. GET INFORMATION FROM UPLOADED FILE

          // URL for `PDF Info` API call
          var url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/info";

          // Prepare requests params as JSON
          Dictionary<string, object> parameters = new Dictionary<string, object>();
          parameters.Add("url", uploadedFileUrl);

          // Convert dictionary of params to JSON
          string jsonPayload = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(parameters);

          // Execute POST request with JSON payload
          response = webClient.UploadString(url, jsonPayload);

          // Parse JSON response
          json = JObject.Parse(response);

          if (json["error"].ToObject<bool>() == false)
          {
            // Display PDF document information
            foreach (JToken token in json["info"])
            {
              JProperty property = (JProperty) token;
              Console.WriteLine("{0}: {1}", property.Name, property.Value);
            }
          }
          else
          {
            Console.WriteLine(json["message"].ToString());
          }
        }
        else
        {
          Console.WriteLine(json["message"].ToString());
        }
      }
      catch (WebException e)
      {
        Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
      }

      webClient.Dispose();

      Console.WriteLine();
      Console.WriteLine("Press any key...");
      Console.ReadKey();
    }
  }
}
package com.company;

import com.google.gson.JsonElement;
import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
import com.google.gson.JsonParser;
import okhttp3.*;

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.util.Map;

public class Main
{
    // The authentication key (API Key).
    // Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
    final static String API_KEY = "***********************************";

    // Source file name
    final static Path SourceFile = Paths.get(".\\sample.pdf");


    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
    {
        // Create HTTP client instance
        OkHttpClient webClient = new OkHttpClient();

        // 1. RETRIEVE THE PRESIGNED URL TO UPLOAD THE FILE.
        // * If you already have a direct file URL, skip to the step 3.

        // Prepare URL for `Get Presigned URL` API call
        String query = String.format(
                "https://api.pdf.co/v1/file/upload/get-presigned-url?contenttype=application/octet-stream&name=%s",
                SourceFile.getFileName());

        // Prepare request
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
                .url(query)
                .addHeader("x-api-key", API_KEY) // (!) Set API Key
                .build();
        // Execute request
        Response response = webClient.newCall(request).execute();

        if (response.code() == 200)
        {
            // Parse JSON response
            JsonObject json = new JsonParser().parse(response.body().string()).getAsJsonObject();

            boolean error = json.get("error").getAsBoolean();
            if (!error)
            {
                // Get URL to use for the file upload
                String uploadUrl = json.get("presignedUrl").getAsString();
                // Get URL of uploaded file to use with later API calls
                String uploadedFileUrl = json.get("url").getAsString();

                // 2. UPLOAD THE FILE TO CLOUD.

                if (uploadFile(webClient, uploadUrl, SourceFile.toFile()))
                {
                    // 3. GET INFORMATION FROM UPLOADED FILE

                    getPdfInfo(webClient, uploadedFileUrl);
                }
            }
            else
            {
                // Display service reported error
                System.out.println(json.get("message").getAsString());
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Display request error
            System.out.println(response.code() + " " + response.message());
        }
    }

    public static void getPdfInfo(OkHttpClient webClient, String uploadedFileUrl) throws IOException {
        // Prepare URL for `PDF Info` API call
        String query = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/info";

        // Make correctly escaped (encoded) URL
        URL url = null;
        try
        {
            url = new URI(null, query, null).toURL();
        }
        catch (URISyntaxException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        // Create JSON payload
    String jsonPayload = String.format("{\"url\": \"%s\"}",
                uploadedFileUrl);

        // Prepare request body
        RequestBody body = RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("application/json"), jsonPayload);

        // Prepare request
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
            .url(url)
            .addHeader("x-api-key", API_KEY) // (!) Set API Key
            .addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
            .post(body)
            .build();

        // Execute request
        Response response = webClient.newCall(request).execute();


        if (response.code() == 200)
        {
            // Parse JSON response
            JsonObject json = new JsonParser().parse(response.body().string()).getAsJsonObject();

            boolean error = json.get("error").getAsBoolean();
            if (!error)
            {
                // Display PDF document information
                JsonObject info = (JsonObject) json.get("info");
                for (Map.Entry<String, JsonElement> entry : info.entrySet())
                {
                    System.out.println(entry.getKey() + ": " + entry.getValue());
                }
            }
            else
            {
                // Display service reported error
                System.out.println(json.get("message").getAsString());
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Display request error
            System.out.println(response.code() + " " + response.message());
        }
    }

    public static boolean uploadFile(OkHttpClient webClient, String url, File sourceFile) throws IOException
    {
        // Prepare request body
        RequestBody body = RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("application/octet-stream"), sourceFile);

        // Prepare request
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
                .url(url)
                .addHeader("x-api-key", API_KEY) // (!) Set API Key
                .addHeader("content-type", "application/octet-stream")
                .put(body)
                .build();

        // Execute request
        Response response = webClient.newCall(request).execute();

        return (response.code() == 200);
    }
}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>PDF Information Results</title>
</head>
<body>

<?php

// Get submitted form data
$apiKey = $_POST["apiKey"]; // The authentication key (API Key). Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co


// 1. RETRIEVE THE PRESIGNED URL TO UPLOAD THE FILE.
// * If you already have the direct PDF file link, go to the step 3.

// Create URL
$url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/file/upload/get-presigned-url" .
    "?name=" . urlencode($_FILES["file"]["name"]) .
    "&contenttype=application/octet-stream";

// Create request
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("x-api-key: " . $apiKey));
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
// 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);

        // Get URL to use for the file upload
        $uploadFileUrl = $json["presignedUrl"];
        // Get URL of uploaded file to use with later API calls
        $uploadedFileUrl = $json["url"];

        // 2. UPLOAD THE FILE TO CLOUD.

        $localFile = $_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"];
        $fileHandle = fopen($localFile, "r");

        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $uploadFileUrl);
        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("content-type: application/octet-stream"));
        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_PUT, true);
        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_INFILE, $fileHandle);
        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_INFILESIZE, filesize($localFile));

        // Execute request
        curl_exec($curl);

        fclose($fileHandle);

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

            if ($status_code == 200)
            {
                // 3. GET INFORMATION ABOUT UPLOADED PDF DOCUMENT
                ExtractInfo($apiKey, $uploadedFileUrl);
            }
            else
            {
                // Display request error
                echo "<p>Status code: " . $status_code . "</p>";
                echo "<p>" . $result . "</p>";
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Display CURL error
            echo "Error: " . curl_error($curl);
        }
    }
    else
    {
        // Display service reported error
        echo "<p>Status code: " . $status_code . "</p>";
        echo "<p>" . $result . "</p>";
    }

    curl_close($curl);
}
else
{
    // Display CURL error
    echo "Error: " . curl_error($curl);
}

function ExtractInfo($apiKey, $uploadedFileUrl)
{
    // Create URL
    $url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/info";

    // Prepare requests params
    $parameters = array();
    $parameters["url"] = $uploadedFileUrl;

    // 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)
            {
                $documentInfo = $json["info"];

                // Display the document info
                echo "<div><h2>Document Info:</h2><p>";
                foreach ($documentInfo as $key => $value)
                {
                    if(is_array($value)){
                        echo $key . ' = ' . json_encode($value) . '<br/>';
                    }
                    else{
                        echo $key . ' = ' . $value . '<br/>';
                    }
                }
                echo "</p></div>";
            }
            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);
    }
}

?>

</body>
</html>

On Github#

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.