flatpdf

README

flatpdf: A GO cli tool to flatten PDF files

flatpdf is a cli tool to flatten PDF files to make them read-only. It is not for flattening out form fields, annotations, or other interactive elements alone but for flattening the entire PDF file. It converts a given PDF file into a new PDF file with all the interactive elements removed. The new PDF file is read-only and cannot be edited.

flatpdf is made possible by the following packages:

• go-pdfium
• pdfcpu

Installation

1. Install GO
2. Compile flatpdf

git clone https://github.com/blucin/flatpdf.git
cd flatpdf
CGO_ENABLED=0 go build

1. Add flatpdf to your PATH (Read more: go docs)

Usage

Usage:
  flatpdf flat [pdf files] [flags]

Flags:
  -d, --density int     image density (default 600)
  -h, --help            help for flat
  -i, --input strings   Input PDF file(s)
  -o, --output string   output directory relative to the current path. Does not add _flat suffix on save
 so it will override any input files present in the output directory
  -q, --quality int     image quality (0-100) for jpeg encoding (default 99)

Example

1. Flatten a single pdf

flatpdf flat -i filename.pdf  #output: filename_flat.pdf

1. Flatten multiple pdfs with specified output directory.

flatpdf flat -i filename1.pdf filename2.pdf -o outDir #output: outDir/filename1.pdf outDir/filename2.pdf

[!CAUTION] Make sure you don't run example 2 with any input files present in the outDir. flatpdf won't add any suffix and might lead to corruption of the input file.

Example misusage of the command:

flatpdf flat -i filename1.pdf outDir/filename2.pdf -o outDir