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# PDF Processing Guide ## Overview This guide covers essential PDF processing operations using Python libraries and command-line tools. For advanced features, JavaScript libraries, and detailed examples, see REFERENCE.md. If you need to fill out a PDF form, read FORMS.md and follow its instructions. ## Quick Start ```python from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter # Read a PDF reader = PdfReader("document.pdf") print(f"Pages: {len(reader.pages)}") # Extract text text = "" for page in reader.pages: text += page.extract_text() ``` ## Library & Tool Recipes All Python library examples (pypdf, pdfplumber, reportlab), CLI tools (pdftotext, qpdf, pdftk), and common tasks (OCR, watermarks, image extraction, encryption): **[references/pdf-recipes.md](references/pdf-recipes.md)** ## Quick Reference | Task | Best Tool | Command/Code | |------|-----------|--------------| | Merge PDFs | pypdf | `writer.add_page(page)` | | Split PDFs | pypdf | One page per file | | Extract text | pdfplumber | `page.extract_text()` | | Extract tables | pdfplumber | `page.extract_tables()` | | Create PDFs | reportlab | Canvas or Platypus | | Command line merge | qpdf | `qpdf --empty --pages ...` | | OCR scanned PDFs | pytesseract | Convert to image first | | Fill PDF forms | pdf-lib or pypdf (see FORMS.md) | See FORMS.md | ## Next Steps - For advanced pypdfium2 usage, see REFERENCE.md - For JavaScript libraries (pdf-lib), see REFERENCE.md - If you need to fill out a PDF form, follow the instr...