PDF properties refer to the information embedded within the document that provides detailed information about the documents, such as author, creation date, last modification date, etc. Users can check the properties of a PDF document in PDF viewers to quickly grasp the key information of the document. Apart from the built-in properties, PDF documents also offer the feature of customizing properties to help provide additional information about the document. Understanding how to specify and access this document information facilitates the creation of user-friendly documents and the processing of documents in large quantities. In this article, we will explore how to set and retrieve PDF properties through Python programs using Spire.PDF for Python.

• Set PDF Properties with Python
• Retrieve PDF Properties with Python

Install Spire.PDF for Python

This scenario requires Spire.PDF for Python and plum-dispatch v1.7.4. They can be easily installed in your Windows through the following pip commands.

pip install Spire.PDF

If you are unsure how to install, please refer to this tutorial: How to Install Spire.PDF for Python on Windows

Set PDF Properties with Python

Spire.PDF for Python provides several properties under the PdfDocumentInformation class for setting built-in document properties, such as author, subject, keywords. Besides, it also provides the PdfDocumentInformation.SetCustomProperty() method to set custom properties. The following are the detailed steps to set PDF properties:

• Create an object of PdfDocument class and load a PDF document using PdfDocument.LoadFromFile() method.
• Get the properties of the document through PdfDocument.DocumentInformation property.
• Set the built-in properties through properties under PdfDocumentInformation class.
• Set custom properties using PdfDocumentInformation.SetCustomProperty() method.
• Save the document using PdfDocument.SaveToFile() method.

from spire.pdf import *
from spire.pdf.common import *

# Create an object of PdfDocument class and load a PDF document
pdf = PdfDocument()
pdf.LoadFromFile("Sample.pdf")

# Get the properties of the document
properties = pdf.DocumentInformation

# Set built-in properties
properties.Author = "Tim Taylor"
properties.Creator = "Spire.PDF"
properties.Keywords = "cloud service; digital business"
properties.Subject = "The introduction of cloud service and its advantages"
properties.Title = "The Power of Cloud Services: Empowering Businesses in the Digital Age"
properties.Producer = "Spire.PDF for Python"

# Set custom properties
properties.SetCustomProperty("Company", "E-iceblue")
properties.SetCustomProperty("Tags", "Cloud; Business; Server")

# Save the document
pdf.SaveToFile("output/SetPDFProperties.pdf")
pdf.Close()

Retrieve PDF Properties with Python

Information in built-in PDF properties can be obtained using the properties under the PdfDocumentInformation class, while that in custom PDF properties can be obtained using PdfDocumentInformation.GetCustomProperty() method. The detailed steps are as follows:

• Create an object of PdfDocument class and load a PDF document using PdfDocument.LoadFromFile() method.
• Get the properties of the document through PdfDocument.DocumentInformation property.
• Retrieve the built-in properties through properties under PdfDocumentInformation class and custom properties using PdfDocumentInformation.GetCustomProperty() method and print them.

from spire.pdf import *
from spire.pdf.common import *

# Create an object of PdfDocument class and load a PDF document
pdf = PdfDocument()
pdf.LoadFromFile("output\SetPDFProperties.pdf")

# Get the properties of the document
properties = pdf.DocumentInformation

# Create a StringBuilder object
information = ""

# Retrieve the built-in properties
information += "Author: " + properties.Author
information += "\nTitle: " + properties.Title
information += "\nSubject: " + properties.Subject
information += "\nKeywords: " + properties.Keywords
information += "\nCreator: " + properties.Creator
information += "\nProducer: " + properties.Producer

# Retrieve the custom properties
information += "\nCompany: " + properties.GetCustomProperty("Company")
information += "\nTags: " + properties.GetCustomProperty("Tags")

# Print the document properties
print(information)
pdf.Close()

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