I wanted to print the front pages ONLY of patents downloaded as PDFs. I couldn't work out how to do this with PDFTK in one pass, so I did as follows. This is in a COMMAND.COM DOS box (not CMD.EXE) under Windows 2000 and assumes a directory c:zdir that is clean apart from the particular PDFs under consideration. It uses Horst Schaeffer's wonderful LMOD (List MODifier) to make the batch files. The idea is to use PDFTK to split the first page only from each pdf, using LMOD to give them unique serial numbers, then a second pass with PDFTK to reassemble the new files into a single one, followed by a call to Acrobat Reader's command line function for printing (still have to press the OK button manually). Those "skilled in the art" will understand the rest; hope line wrapping and your system's odd habit of dropping backslashes doesn't screw things up too much.

PRPATPDF.BAT
------------
@echo off
c:dosutilspushd.exe
c:
cd c:zdir
for %%a in (do_it.bat pdf.dir front_pages.pdf $*.pdf) do if exist %%a del %%a > nul
dir *.pdf /O:N /N /b > pdf.dir
lmod /L* pdftk [] cat 1-1 output $[#].pdf  do_it.bat
call do_it.bat
pdftk $*.pdf cat output front_pages.pdf
"C:Program FilesAdobeAcrobat 6.0ReaderAcroRd32.exe" /p "front_pages.pdf"
for %%a in (do_it.bat pdf.dir front_pages.pdf $*.pdf) do if exist %%a del %%a > nul
c:dosutilspopd.exe

-- Robert Bull

Some pdftk users process hundreds of files. Performing this work on a Windows machine can yield unexpected results. The problem arises from the Windows command-prompt shell, not pdftk. The problem arises because for every long filename, Windows creates a short, DOS-compatible (8.3) filename. This short filename might end up matching a wildcard expression, even when the long filename does not. When using pdftk, the result is that you end up with more input files than you wanted.

This article offers a couple workarounds and then describes the case where this problem arose.

I wrote an article for MacTech Magazine (Nov. 2004 ed.) about collecting form data using HTML forms and then packing this data into a PDF form for download. I posted the code online, along with a working example.

While merging data into a PDF form is old news to pdftk users, this example has an interesting twist. It uses pdftk's dump_data_fields operation to discover exactly what the PDF form wants, then creates a dynamic HTML form using this information. I.e., it automatically creates an HTML form to match your PDF form.

This HTML form is bare-bones, but it makes a good foundation for your web interface. It helps if you fill in the PDF fields' "Short Description," available via Acrobat's field properties dialog.

My MacTech article described the process in detail and introduced the reader to related topics, such as PDF forms, pdftk, and the FDF format. This artcile offers some tips on getting started and shows how to discover form field data using pdftk. Download the example PHP code here.

I haven't tested this on Adobe's new-fangled Acrobat 7 forms.

Received today from Timothy Stebbing:

This code was later updated by Thomas Heetderks at Frontline Processing:

See the full article for code. Thanks Timothy and Thomas!

Forge_fdf is a little PHP script I created for casting form data into the FDF syntax. This is handy for filling online PDF forms automatically, or for filling forms using pdftk.

Here are some examples of forge_fdf in action:

• Online PDF Form Filling Sessions and code.
• Using an HTML Front-End to Fill PDF Forms

I suggest using pdftotext to extract your PDF's text. run pdftotext --help to see its options. Its output uses the the formfeed (0x0C) character to show page breaks. Scan the output from pdftotext for the account number, or possibly some other distinctive feature, to find where to split the PDF. Count pages as you go along by counting formfeeds. Then create a pdftk command-line to perform the split and output the new file to your custom file name. Script using bash, if you like.

PDF has features for controlling how a document first appears in the viewer. These include page layout settings: Single Page, Continuous, and Continuous Facing Pages. These also include page mode settings: Show Bookmarks, Show Thumbnails, and Full Screen.

Pdftk does not currently have built-in features for setting these options, but you will find they are easy to set using a sed script. My article about editing PDF using sed will give you the background on this technique. Here I will desciribe how it applies to page layout and page mode settings.

Here is an email I received today that describes a common PDF problem. I sketched out a solution, and some kind folks have offered scripts. Feel free to contribute.

Here is an idea for how to remove blank pages from a PDF using pdftotext and pdftk. It is based on a recent posting to comp.text.pdf.

Pdftk is a command-line program, so it helps to know command-line (a/k/a "shell") programming. Especially when you want to do something that pdftk doesn't know how to do by itself.

A good example of this is using pdftk to combine PDF in a special order. This article describes how to use the Windows Command Prompt batch language to combine PDFs by file creation date. I also show how to do this using the bash shell which comes with MSYS.