Chapter 11
Document Information and Metadata

cpdf -info [-raw | -utf8] in.pdf

cpdf -page-info in.pdf

cpdf -pages in.pdf

cpdf -set-title <title of document>
     [-also-set-xmp] [-just-set-xmp] [-raw] in.pdf -o out.pdf
(Also -set-author etc. See Section 11.2.)

cpdf -set-page-layout <layout> in.pdf -o out.pdf

cpdf -set-page-mode <mode> in.pdf -o out.pdf

cpdf -hide-toolbar <true | false> in.pdf -o out.pdf
     -hide-menubar
     -hide-window-ui
     -fit-window
     -center-window
     -display-doc-title

cpdf -open-at-page <page number> in.pdf -o out.pdf
cpdf -open-at-page-fit <page number> in.pdf -o out.pdf

cpdf -set-metadata <metadata-file> in.pdf -o out.pdfcpdf -remove-metadata in.pdf -o out.pdf
cpdf -print-metadata in.pdf
cpdf -create-metadata in.pdf -o out.pdf
cpdf -set-metadata-date <date> in.pdf -o out.pdf

cpdf -add-page-labels in.pdf -o out.pdf
     [-label-style <style>] [-label-prefix <string>]
     [-label-startval <integer>] [-labels-progress]

cpdf -remove-page-labels in.pdf -o out.pdf
cpdf -print-page-labels in.pdf

11.1 Reading Document Information

The -info operation prints entries from the document information dictionary, and from any XMP metadata to standard output.

$cpdf -info pdf_reference.pdf
Encryption: 40bit
Linearized: true
Permissions: No edit
Version: 1.6
Pages: 1310
Title: PDF Reference, version 1.7
Author: Adobe Systems Incorporated
Subject: Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)
Keywords:
Creator: FrameMaker 7.2
Producer: Acrobat Distiller 7.0.5 (Windows)
Created: D:20061017081020Z
Modified: D:20061118211043-0230
XMP pdf:Producer: Adobe PDF library 7.77
XMP xmp:CreateDate: 2006-12-21T18:19:09+01:00
XMP xmp:CreatorTool: Adobe Illustrator CS2
XMP xmp:MetadataDate: 2006-12-21T18:19:09Z
XMP xmp:ModifyDate: 2006-12-21T18:19:09Z
XMP dc:title: AI6

The details of the format for creation and modification dates can be found in Appendix A.

By default, cpdf strips to ASCII, discarding character codes in excess of 127. In order to preserve the original unicode, add the -utf8 option. To disable all postprocessing of the string, add -raw. See Section 1.17 for more information.

The -page-info operation prints the page label, media box and other boxes page-by-page to standard output, for all pages in the current range.

$cpdf -page-info 14psfonts.pdf
Page 1:
Label: i
MediaBox: 0.000000 0.000000 600.000000 450.000000
CropBox: 200.000000 200.000000 500.000000 500.000000
BleedBox:
TrimBox:
ArtBox:
Rotation: 0

Note that the format for boxes is minimum x, minimum y, maximum x, maximum y.

The -pages operation prints the number of pages in the file.

cpdf -pages Archos.pdf
8

11.2 Setting Document Information

The document information dictionary in a PDF file specifies various pieces of information about a PDF. These can be consulted in a PDF viewer (for instance, Acrobat).

Here is a summary of the commands for setting entries in the document information dictionary:

Information        Examplecomm and-lin efragment
Title              cpdf -set-title

(The details of the format for creation and modification dates can be found in Appendix A. Using the date "now" uses the time and date at which the command is executed. Note also that -producer and -creator may be used to set the producer and/or the creator when writing any file, separate from the operations described in this chapter.)

For example, to set the title, the full command line would be

cpdf -set-title "A Night in London" in.pdf -o out.pdf

The text string is considered to be in UTF8 format, unless the -raw option is added—in which case, it is unprocessed, save for the replacement of any octal escape sequence such as \017, which is replaced by a character of its value (here, 15).

To set also any field in the XMP metadata, add -also-set-xmp. The field must exist already. To set only the field (not the document information dictionary), add -just-set-xmp instead.

11.3 XMP Metadata

PDF files can contain a piece of arbitrary metadata, often in XMP format. This is typically stored in an uncompressed stream, so that other applications can read it without having to decode the whole PDF. To set the metadata:

cpdf -set-metadata data.xml in.pdf -o out.pdf

To remove any metadata:

cpdf -remove-metadata in.pdf -o out.pdf

To print the current metadata to standard output:

cpdf -print-metadata in.pdf

To create XMP metadata from scratch, using any information in the Document Information Dictionary (old-style metadata):

cpdf -create-metadata in.pdf -o out.pdf

To set the XMP metadata date field, use:

cpdf -set-metadata-date <date> in.pdf -o out.pdf

The date format is defined in Appendix A.2. Using the date "now" uses the time and date at which the command is executed.

11.4 Upon Opening a Document

11.4.1 Page Layout

The -set-page-layout operation specifies the page layout to be used when a document is opened in, for instance, Acrobat. The possible (case-sensitive) values are:

SinglePage      D isplay onepageatatim e
OneColumn       D isplay thep agesinonecolumn

TwoColumnLeft   Donispthlaeylethf pages in tw o colum ns, odd num bered pages

TwoColumnRight  Donispthlaeylethn pagesintwo columns,evennum beredpages
                (PDF 1.5and above)Displaythepagestwoatatime,odd
TwoPageLeft     num bered pageson the left

TwoPageRight    (PDF 1.5andabove)Displaythepagestw oatatime,even
                num bered pageson the left

For instance:

cpdf -set-page-layout TwoColumnRight in.pdf -o out.pdf

NB: If the file has a valid /OpenAction setting, which tells the PDF reader to open at a certain page or position on a page, this will override the page layout option. To prevent this, use the -remove-dict-entry functionality from Section 18.9:

cpdf -remove-dict-entry /OpenAction in.pdf -o out.pdf

11.4.2 Page Mode

The page mode in a PDF file defines how a viewer should display the document when first opened. The possible (case-sensitive) values are:

UseNone         N either docum entoutlinenor thum bnailim ages visible

UseOutlines     D ocum entoutline (bookmarks)visible
UseThumbs       Thum bnailimagesvisible
                Full-screenm ode(no menubar,windowcontrols,orany-
FullScreen      thing butthe docum entvisible)

UseOC           (PDF 1.5andabove)Optionalcontentgrouppanelvisible
UseAttachments  (PDF 1.5and above)Attachm entspanelvisible

For instance:

cpdf -set-page-mode FullScreen in.pdf -o out.pdf

11.4.3 Display Options

-hide-toolbar
                    H ide the viewer’stoolbar
-hide-menubar       D ocumentoutline (bookmarks)visible
-hide-window-ui     H ide the viewer’sscrollbars

-fit-window         R esizethe docum ent’swindowstofitsize offirstpage
-center-window      P ositionthedocumentwindow in thecenterofthescreen
                    D isplay the docum enttitleinsteadofthefilenameinthe
-display-doc-title  titlebar

For instance:

cpdf -hide-toolbar true in.pdf -o out.pdf

The page a PDF file opens at can be set using -open-at-page:

cpdf -open-at-page 15 in.pdf -o out.pdf

To have that page scaled to fit the window in the viewer, use -open-at-page-fit instead:

cpdf -open-at-page-fit end in.pdf -o out.pdf

(Here, we used end to open at the last page. Any page specification describing a single page is ok here.)

11.5 Page Labels

It is possible to add page labels to a document. These are not the printed on the page, but may be displayed alongside thumbnails or in print dialogue boxes by PDF readers. We use -add-page-labels to do this, by default with decimal arabic numbers (1,2,3…). We can add -label-style to choose what type of labels to add from these kinds:

    DecimalArabic  1,2,3,4,5...
   LowercaseRoman  i,ii,iii,iv,v...
   UppercaseRoman  I,II,III,IV,V...
 LUopwpeerrccaasseeLLeetttteerrss  aA,b,,Bc,,C..,...,.z,,aZa,,AbAb,..B.B...
NoLabelPrefixOnly  N onum ber,butaprefixwillbe used ifdefined.

We can use -label-prefix to add a textual prefix to each label. Consider a file with twenty pages and no current page labels (a PDF reader will assume 1,2,3…if there are none). We will add the following page labels:

i, ii, iii, iv, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, A-0, A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4, A-5

Here are the commands, in order:

cpdf -add-page-labels in.pdf 1-4 -label-style LowercaseRoman
     -o out.pdf

cpdf -add-page-labels out.pdf 5-14 -o out.pdf

cpdf -add-page-labels out.pdf 15-20 -label-prefix "A-"
     -label-startval 0 -o out.pdf

By default the labels begin at page number 1 for each range. To override this, we can use -label-startval (we used 0 in the final command), where we want the numbers to begin at zero rather than one. The option -labels-progress can be added to make sure the start value progresses between sub-ranges when the page range specified is disjoint, e.g 1-9, 30-40 or odd.

Page labels may be removed altogether by using -remove-page-labels command. To print the page labels from an existing file, use -print-page-labels. For example:

$ cpdf -print-page-labels cpdfmanual.pdf
labelstyle: LowercaseRoman
labelprefix: None
startpage: 1
startvalue: 1
labelstyle: DecimalArabic
labelprefix: None
startpage: 9
startvalue: 1

.NET Interface

 
CHAPTER 11. Document Information and Metadata 
 
Cpdf.isLinearized(String) 
 
Finds out if a document is linearized as quickly as possible without loading 
it. 
 
Cpdf.getVersion(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the minor version number of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getMajorVersion(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the minor version number of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getTitle(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the title of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getAuthor(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the author of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getSubject(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the subject of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getKeywords(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the keywords of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getCreator(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the creator of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getProducer(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the producer of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getCreationDate(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the creation date of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getModificationDate(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the modification date of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getTitleXMP(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the XMP title of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getAuthorXMP(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the XMP author of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getSubjectXMP(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the XMP subject of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getKeywordsXMP(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the XMP keywords of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getCreatorXMP(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the XMP creator of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getProducerXMP(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the XMP producer of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getCreationDateXMP(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the XMP creation date of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getModificationDateXMP(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the XMP modification date of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setTitle(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the title of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setAuthor(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the author of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setSubject(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the subject of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setKeywords(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the keywords of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setCreator(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the creator of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setProducer(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the producer of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setCreationDate(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the creation date of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setModificationDate(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the modification date of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setTitleXMP(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the XMP title of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setAuthorXMP(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the XMP author of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setSubjectXMP(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the XMP subject of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setKeywordsXMP(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the XMP keywords of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setCreatorXMP(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the XMP creator of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setProducerXMP(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the XMP producer of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setCreationDateXMP(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the XMP creation date of a document. 
 
Cpdf.setModificationDateXMP(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the XMP modification date of a document. 
 
Cpdf.getDateComponents(String, Int32@, Int32@, Int32@, Int32@, Int32@, Int32@, 
Int32@, Int32@) 
 
Returns the components from a PDF date string. 
 
Cpdf.dateStringOfComponents(Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, 
Int32) 
 
Builds a PDF date string from individual components. 
 
Cpdf.getPageRotation(Cpdf.Pdf, Int32) 
 
Gets the viewing rotation for a given page. 
 
Cpdf.hasBox(Cpdf.Pdf, Int32, String) 
 
Returns true, if that page has the given box. E.g "/CropBox". 
 
Cpdf.getMediaBox(Cpdf.Pdf, Int32, Double@, Double@, Double@, Double@) 
 
Cpdf.getCropBox(Cpdf.Pdf, Int32, Double@, Double@, Double@, Double@) 
 
Cpdf.getTrimBox(Cpdf.Pdf, Int32, Double@, Double@, Double@, Double@) 
 
Cpdf.getArtBox(Cpdf.Pdf, Int32, Double@, Double@, Double@, Double@) 
 
Cpdf.getBleedBox(Cpdf.Pdf, Int32, Double@, Double@, Double@, Double@) 
 
These functions get a box given the document, page number, min x, max x, 
min y, max y in points. Only succeeds if such a box exists, as checked by 
hasBox. 
 
Cpdf.setMediabox(Cpdf.Pdf, List{Int32}, Double, Double, Double, Double) 
 
Cpdf.setCropBox(Cpdf.Pdf, List{Int32}, Double, Double, Double, Double) 
 
Cpdf.setTrimBox(Cpdf.Pdf, List{Int32}, Double, Double, Double, Double) 
 
Cpdf.setArtBox(Cpdf.Pdf, List{Int32}, Double, Double, Double, Double) 
 
Cpdf.setBleedBox(Cpdf.Pdf, List{Int32}, Double, Double, Double, Double) 
 
These functions set a box given the document, page range, min x, max x, 
min y, max y in points. 
 
Cpdf.markTrapped(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Marks a document as trapped. 
 
Cpdf.markUntrapped(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Marks a document as untrapped. 
 
Cpdf.markTrappedXMP(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Marks a document as trapped in XMP metadata. 
 
Cpdf.markUntrappedXMP(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Marks a document as untrapped in XMP metadata. 
 
Cpdf.Layout 
 
Layouts 
 
Cpdf.Layout.SinglePage 
 
Single page 
 
Cpdf.Layout.OneColumn 
 
One column 
 
Cpdf.Layout.TwoColumnLeft 
 
Two column left 
 
Cpdf.Layout.TwoColumnRight 
 
Two column right 
 
Cpdf.Layout.TwoPageLeft 
 
Two page left 
 
Cpdf.Layout.TwoPageRight 
 
Two page right 
 
Cpdf.setPageLayout(Cpdf.Pdf, Cpdf.Layout) 
 
Sets the page layout for a document. 
 
Cpdf.PageMode 
 
Page modes 
 
Cpdf.PageMode.UseNone 
 
Use none 
 
Cpdf.PageMode.UseOutlines 
 
Use outlines 
 
Cpdf.PageMode.UseThumbs 
 
Use thumbs 
 
Cpdf.PageMode.UseOC 
 
Use OC 
 
Cpdf.PageMode.UseAttachments 
 
Use attachments 
 
Cpdf.setPageMode(Cpdf.Pdf, Cpdf.PageMode) 
 
Sets the page mode for a document. 
 
Cpdf.hideToolbar(Cpdf.Pdf, Boolean) 
 
Sets the hide toolbar flag. 
 
Cpdf.hideMenubar(Cpdf.Pdf, Boolean) 
 
Sets the hide menubar flag. 
 
Cpdf.hideWindowUi(Cpdf.Pdf, Boolean) 
 
Sets the hide window UI flag. 
 
Cpdf.fitWindow(Cpdf.Pdf, Boolean) 
 
Sets the fit window flag. 
 
Cpdf.centerWindow(Cpdf.Pdf, Boolean) 
 
Sets the center window flag. 
 
Cpdf.displayDocTitle(Cpdf.Pdf, Boolean) 
 
Sets the display doc title flag. 
 
Cpdf.openAtPage(Cpdf.Pdf, Boolean, Int32) 
 
Sets the PDF to open, possibly with zoom-to-fit, at the given page number. 
 
Cpdf.setMetadataFromFile(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the XMP metadata of a document, given a file name. 
 
Cpdf.setMetadataFromByteArray(Cpdf.Pdf, Byte[]) 
 
Sets the XMP metadata from an array of bytes. 
 
Cpdf.removeMetadata(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Removes the XMP metadata from a document. 
 
Cpdf.getMetadata(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Returns the XMP metadata from a document. 
 
Cpdf.createMetadata(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Builds fresh metadata as best it can from 
existing metadata in the document. 
 
Cpdf.setMetadataDate(Cpdf.Pdf, String) 
 
Sets the metadata date for a PDF. The date is given in PDF date format -- cpdf 
will convert it to XMP format. The date now means now. 
 
Cpdf.PageLabelStyle 
 
Page label styles 
 
Cpdf.PageLabelStyle.DecimalArabic 
 
1, 2, 3... 
 
Cpdf.PageLabelStyle.UppercaseRoman 
 
I, II, III... 
 
Cpdf.PageLabelStyle.LowercaseRoman 
 
i, ii, iii... 
 
Cpdf.PageLabelStyle.UppercaseLetters 
 
A, B, C... 
 
Cpdf.PageLabelStyle.LowercaseLetters 
 
a, b, c... 
 
Cpdf.addPageLabels(Cpdf.Pdf, Cpdf.PageLabelStyle, String, Int32, List{Int32}, 
Boolean) 
 
Adds page labels. The prefix is prefix text for each label. The range is the 
page range the labels apply to. Offset can be used to shift the numbering up or 
down. 
 
Cpdf.removePageLabels(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Removes the page labels from the document. 
 
Cpdf.getPageLabelStringForPage(Cpdf.Pdf, Int32) 
 
Calculates the full label string for a given page, and returns it. 
 
Cpdf.startGetPageLabels(Cpdf.Pdf) 
 
Cpdf.getPageLabelStyle(Int32) 
 
Cpdf.getPageLabelPrefix(Int32) 
 
Cpdf.getPageLabelOffset(Int32) 
 
Cpdf.getPageLabelRange(Int32) 
 
Cpdf.endGetPageLabels