PDF Tool
PDF document operations: generate, extract text, get metadata, and merge.
Tool ID
pdf
Credential Required
No
Operations
1. generate — Create PDF from text content
Generates a PDF document with text content, automatic pagination, and word-wrap.
| Property | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
outputFile |
string | — | Required. Output PDF file path |
content |
string | — | Required. Text content to render |
title |
string | — | PDF title metadata |
author |
string | — | PDF author metadata |
fontSize |
integer | 12 |
Font size in points |
font |
string | helvetica |
Font: helvetica, times, courier |
pageSize |
string | letter |
Page size: letter, a4, legal |
marginPoints |
integer | 72 |
Page margin in points (72 points = 1 inch) |
Published Outputs:
- outputFile — path to generated PDF
- pageCount — number of pages
- lineCount — number of lines rendered
Behavior: Text is automatically wrapped at word boundaries. Paragraphs are preserved via newlines. Multi-page documents are created automatically.
2. extract — Extract text from PDF
| Property | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
inputFile |
string | — | Required. Input PDF file path |
outputFile |
string | — | File to write extracted text (optional; if blank, text returned in published properties) |
Published Outputs:
- text — extracted text content
- textLength — character count
- inputFile — source file
3. info — Get PDF metadata
| Property | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
inputFile |
string | — | Required. Input PDF file path |
Published Outputs:
- pageCount, title, author, subject, creator, producer
4. merge — Combine multiple PDFs
| Property | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
outputFile |
string | — | Required. Output merged PDF path |
inputFiles |
string | — | Required. Comma-separated PDF file paths (minimum 2) |
Published Outputs:
- outputFile, pageCount, inputFileCount
Killable
No
Technology
Apache PDFBox — open source, no commercial dependencies.
Chaining Patterns
- SQL export → PDF generate — query data, format as text, generate PDF report
- PDF extract → SQL — extract text from PDF, parse and import data
- PDF generate → Email — create a report, email it
- PDF generate → FTP — create a report, upload to server
- Multiple tasks → PDF merge — generate several PDFs, merge into one
Limitations
- Generate is text-only (no images, tables, or rich formatting)
- Only 3 built-in fonts (Helvetica, Times, Courier) — no custom fonts
- No form filling or digital signatures
- Extract quality depends on PDF structure (scanned documents won't extract well)
Publishes
The keys a later task may reference as {{taskName.key}}. Referencing anything not listed here resolves to nothing at run time.
authorcreatorinputFileinputFileCountlineCountoperationoutputFilepageCountproducersubjecttexttextLengthtitle