Splitting PDF files with pdftk was an interesting experience. Where some other applications point to the wrong destinations for hyperlinks, the links in PDFs combined using pdftk managed to hit each link target perfectly. Pdftk doesn’t retain bookmarks, but it does keep hyperlinks to both destinations within the PDF and to external files or Web sites. Pdftk file1.pdf file2.pdf cat output newFile.pdfĬat is short for concatenate - that is, link together, for those of us who speak plain English - and output tells pdftk to write the combined PDFs to a new file. Pdftk’s ability to join two or more PDF files is on par with such specialized applications as pdfmeld and joinPDF (discussed in this article). Pdftk also produced output far more quickly than most other PDF tools that I’ve worked with. Except for one or two very minor issues, I wasn’t disappointed with the results. I focused on the functions that I use most with other PDF software: joining and splitting PDFs, removing pages from a PDF, and attaching files to a PDF. I put pdftk through its paces with a number of PDFs that ranged in size from 30KB to 2MB. You can expect to do a lot of typing, but that shouldn’t put you off using the tool. Pdftk is a command-line tool, and the syntax can be complicated, especially for complex actions such as removing specific pages from a PDF file. The compilation process only took a few minutes on my computer, and there were no hitches. If you decide to compile pdftk, as I did, check the build notes before you begin, in order to find out about any dependencies for your Linux distro or your platform.
#CONVERT TEXT FILE TO PDF LINUX MAC OS X#
Binaries are available for Windows and Mac OS X too. You can download pdftk 1.12 as source or as a Debian or RPM package, FreeBSD port, or Gentoo Ebuild. In short, there’s very little pdftk can’t do when it comes to working with PDFs. Pdftk can join and split PDFs pull single pages from a file encrypt and decrypt PDF files add, update, and export a PDF’s metadata export bookmarks to a text file add or remove attachments to a PDF fix a damaged PDF and fill out PDF forms.
#CONVERT TEXT FILE TO PDF LINUX SOFTWARE#
It’s the closest thing to Adobe Acrobat that I’ve found for Linux.ĭeveloper Sid Steward describes pdftk as the PDF equivalent of an “electronic staple remover, hole punch, binder, secret decoder ring, and X-ray glasses.” That’s a lot of functionality for a 4MB application, but the software delivers. The PDF Toolkit (pdftk) claims to be that all-in-one solution. Countless applications enable you to fiddle with PDFs, but it’s hard to find a single application that does everything. Creating and reading PDF files in Linux is easy, but manipulating existing PDF files is a little trickier.
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