Stirling-PDF is a comprehensive, locally hosted web-based PDF manipulation tool that is equipped with an array of features to manage and alter PDF files. The application operates within a Docker container, ensuring easy setup and consistent performance. It's designed to be a one-stop solution for a multitude of PDF related tasks without compromising user privacy or security.
Key Features and Operations
Stirling-PDF supports a vast range of operations that cater to various PDF editing and management needs. Here's a rundown of its capabilities:
Viewing and Editing
- Multi-page Viewing: Users can view multi-page PDFs with options for custom sorting and searching.
- On-page Editing: Tools for annotation, drawing, text addition, and image integration are available.
Page Operations
- Merge: Combines multiple PDFs into a single file.
- Split: Separates a PDF into multiple files or individual pages.
- Reorganize: Allows rearrangement of pages into different orders.
- Rotate: Alters the orientation of PDFs in 90-degree increments.
- Remove: Deletes unwanted pages from the document.
- Multi-page Layout: Formats PDFs into multi-page layouts.
- Crop, Adjust Contrast, and More: Offers additional page manipulation options.
Conversion Operations
- Format Conversions: Supports conversion to and from images, common file formats, and between PDFs and word processing formats like Word and PowerPoint.
- Web to PDF: Transforms HTML and Markdown content, as well as URLs, directly into PDF format.
Security & Permissions
- Encryption: Adds and removes passwords to secure PDF files.
- Permissions: Enables users to set or change PDF access restrictions.
- Digital Signatures: Allows the addition and validation of digital signatures.
Compression and OCR
- Compress PDFs: Reduces file size while maintaining the integrity of the content.
- OCR: Optical Character Recognition technology to digitize textual content within images or scanned documents.
Additional Operations
- Metadata Editing: Allows alteration of the document's metadata.
- PDF Repair and Comparisons: Detects discrepancies between different PDF files.
- PDF/A Conversion: Ensures long-term archiving standards are met.
Usage and Customization
Stirling-PDF can be used locally or within a Docker or Podman environment. For local usage, instructions are provided on their GitHub repository, while Docker users can pull the image from Docker Hub.
Customization features include language support for 21 languages such as English, Arabic, German, French, and more, with the ability for users to contribute additional languages through pull requests on GitHub.
The application supports customization of the app name, slogans, icons, and even HTML components through file overrides. Environmental variables are also supported for advanced users to tailor the system parameters and security settings.
Technologies Employed
Stirling-PDF utilizes a robust tech stack, including Spring Boot with Thymeleaf for the backend, PDFBox for PDF manipulations, LibreOffice for file conversions, OCRMyPDF for optical character recognition and compression, and front-end technologies such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, alongside Docker for containerization.
Security and Privacy Conscious Design
Privacy is a core aspect of Stirling-PDF. It does not make outbound calls for tracking or record-keeping. All files only exist either on the client side, in server memory during task execution, or temporarily on the server for task duration. After download, all files are deleted from the server.
API Access and Authentication
For those who need integration with external scripts, Stirling-PDF provides an API. When security is enabled, users will need to create an account and use an API key for authenticated operations.
Conclusion and Future Plans
Stirling-PDF is an evolving platform with future features slated to include progress tracking, custom logic pipelines, folder support, text redaction through UI, and automatic form filling among others. It's a powerful tool for both individuals and businesses looking to handle PDF tasks with ease and privacy.
For more detailed information and potential troubleshooting, users are encouraged to refer to the documentation provided in the GitHub repositories.
Tags: PDF Manipulation, Stirling-PDF, Docker, OCR, Document Security