snussik / fillpdf

A python library to make filling pdfs much easier

fillpdf

https://pypi.org/project/fillpdf/

Overview

This is a simple package to make filling pdfs much easier. I have delt with a lot projects that involve manipulating pdfs in python. I found no easy solution for writting, or flattening pdfs, so I decided to make a library to make this task much easier. As a young software engineer I kept this library really simple but practicle and am open to any input for the future!

• Fills pdfs
• Lists fields in pdf
• Flattens pdfs (Turns to a non-editable pdf)

Function Documentation

import fillpdf
from fillpdf import fillpdfs

get_form_fields

get_form_fields(input_pdf_path)

• input_pdf_path- path to your pdf you want to alter (including the pdf name could just leave as 'blank.pdf' if the pdf is in your current directory)

For Example:

fillpdfs.get_form_fields('blank.pdf')

write_fillable_pdf

write_fillable_pdf(input_pdf_path, output_pdf_path, data_dict)

• input_pdf_path- path to your pdf you want to alter (including the pdf name could just leave as 'blank.pdf' if the pdf is in your current directory)
• output_pdf_path- path of where you want your pdf to write to (including the pdf name could just leave as 'new.pdf' to write to current directory)
• data_dict- dictionary that contains the fields to write to as your key and what to write to it as your value (get this from the get_form_fields function)

For Example:

data_dict = {'Address 1 Text Box': '500 West Main Street',
'Driving License Check Box': 'Yes',
'Language 1 Check Box': 'Off',}

fillpdfs.write_fillable_pdf('blank.pdf', 'new.pdf', data_dict)

• For radio boxes ('Off' = not filled, 'Yes' = filled)

flatten_pdf

flatten_pdf(input_pdf_path, output_pdf_path)

• input_pdf_path- path to your pdf you want to alter (including the pdf name could just leave as 'blank.pdf' if the pdf is in your current directory)
• output_pdf_path- path of where you want your pdf to write to (including the pdf name could just leave as 'new.pdf' to write to current directory)

For Example:

fillpdfs.flatten_pdf('new.pdf', 'newflat.pdf')

Software Demo Video

Installation

pip install fillpdf 
conda install -c conda-forge poppler

Development Environment

Builds upon

• 'pdfrw'
• 'pdf2image'
• 'Pillow'
• 'PyPDF2'

Useful Websites

{Make a list of websites that you found helpful in this project}

• List PDF Fields
• Fill PDF Fields
• Flatten PDFs

Credit

• dvska
• tomatoeshift
• Tyler Houssian

Future Work

• Add perfect fill (sometimes does not fill random things ie. drop down lists)
• give option to place text by coordinate
• easier way to fill the data dictionary in write_fillable_pdf function