Text operations
Apply targeted changes to existing text without rebuilding the source document.
- Replace
- Insert
- Delete
- Style
Production PDF processing
Edit existing PDFs in production with evidence at every step
PDFDancer works on existing PDFs: apply targeted changes to text and document objects, inspect detailed editing results, and optionally quality-gate the generated output before release.
These capabilities support PDF workflow automation when your team needs to receive files, review changes, and release the finished PDF.
Edit real PDF text
Change text and typography
Target text by content, pattern, appearance, page, or coordinate, then control how the surrounding layout responds.
Precise targeting
Limit a change to the intended text and page scope instead of applying broad manual edits.
- Literal selectors
- Regular expressions
- Document or page scope
- Appearance-based text runs
Layout and reflow control
Choose whether unaffected glyphs stay fixed, following text moves, or a supported text unit is recomposed.
- Source-anchored edits
- No-reflow composition
- Body-text reflow
- Required reflow and fallback diagnostics
Fonts and typography
Replace fonts, register TTF files, and style text while checking glyph coverage and applied results.
- Service-hosted fonts
- Registered custom fonts
- Font size and color
- Spacing and hyphenation controls
Edit the objects inside a PDF
Modify images, graphics, and form content
Find existing PDF objects or add new ones, then apply the supported transformation with an operation result you can inspect.
Images
Replace, add, and transform images while preserving their intended placement when the operation supports it.
- Move, scale, and rotate
- Crop and flip
- Opacity and fill-region edits
- Clipping removal and deletion
Vector graphics
Create and edit paths and common vector primitives used in finished PDF artwork.
- Lines, rectangles, and Bézier curves
- Stroke and fill color
- Dash patterns and transforms
- Move, clip, and delete
AcroForm fields
Inspect interactive form fields, set values, select by name or position, and delete fields when required.
- Field names and values
- Document or page scope
- Coordinate selection
- Interactive output verification
Form XObjects
Handle reusable painted content separately from interactive AcroForm fields.
- Select instances
- Move and delete
- Clear clipping
- Inspect rendered output
Work at document level
Manage pages and document structure
Inspect and change the page structure of an existing PDF, while keeping page-scoped operations explicit.
Page operations
Create, inspect, reorder, delete, and retrieve pages from the active document.
- One-based page numbers
- Standard and custom page sizes
- Page orientation
- Save or retrieve PDF bytes
Coordinate-aware targeting
Use PDF points and page geometry when an edit depends on position rather than text or object identity.
- Bottom-left PDF origin
- Page-scoped selectors
- Bounding rectangles
- Rotation and crop-box considerations
Additional processing
Extract structured text from PDFs
Extract semantically classified text units from a PDF for search, indexing, transformation, or downstream document workflows.
Semantic reading units
Extract text as classified document units rather than as an undifferentiated page text stream.
- Headings and paragraphs
- Lists and page headers
- Semantic role per unit
Reading order and inclusion
Use the primary reading stream to distinguish content included in the document’s logical order from content that remains available but excluded.
- Primary stream
- Explicit inclusion state
- Reading order per unit
Provenance and geometry
Trace each extracted unit back to its source elements and position in the PDF.
- Page number
- Source element identifiers
- Bounding boxes
OCR processing
Process scanned or image-only PDF content so it can participate in downstream text workflows.
- Available as a paid add-on
- Use representative source files for evaluation
Know what the system did
Get comprehensive editing results
Every production decision needs evidence. PDFDancer reports what changed, where it changed, what did not change, and which conditions affected the result.
Editing diagnostics
Inspect the result of each operation instead of inferring success from an HTTP response or a saved file.
- Matched and changed counts
- Affected pages
- Changed and unchanged targets
- Per-change layout diagnostics
Font and glyph diagnostics
See which fonts were used, which replacements were applied, and where the supplied font could not support required glyphs.
- Font replacements applied
- Unsupported glyph warnings
- Embedded-font warnings
- Applied versus requested layout
Failure and fallback reporting
Distinguish no-match outcomes, partial edits, warnings, validation failures, transport failures, and retryable conditions.
- Errors and warnings
- Fallback behavior
- Operation success results
- Bounded retry guidance
Optional release quality gate
Preflight generated PDFs before release
Review the generated PDF against print, ebook, or custom profiles before it moves to release, and give production teams a clear quality gate.
Output-profile preflight
Run the file PDFDancer generated through the requirements that matter for its destination workflow.
- Print profiles
- Ebook profiles
- Custom profiles
Result findings
Review the checks and affected pages reported for the generated output instead of treating a successful edit as proof of release readiness.
- Fonts and glyph support
- Document structure
- Page-level findings
Quality-gate reporting
Use severity-aware findings to decide whether the generated file can move forward or needs production attention.
- Errors
- Warnings
- Informational findings
Run repeatable jobs
Process documents in production
Apply the same controlled operation across independent documents and retain enough result data to handle exceptions deliberately.
Batch workflows
Open, process, validate, and save each document independently so one failure does not corrupt the rest of the job.
- Folder and queue processing
- Independent document sessions
- Repeatable operation sequences
Production failure handling
Classify failures and retry only the conditions that are safe and useful to retry.
- Validation failures
- Rate limits
- Connection and timeout failures
- Session failures
Output protection
Validate required changes before saving and preserve the original input as the recovery source.
- Expected match/change counts
- Warnings and errors before save
- Separate output path
Deploy for your operating model
Protect document data and control deployment
Use the hosted service for evaluation and production, or choose Enterprise deployment when storage, retention, and security controls must remain under your control.
Hosted document security
Process uploaded PDFs with encrypted transport and temporary encrypted storage.
- HTTPS/TLS in transit
- AES-256 encryption at rest
- Automated processing access
- Automatic deletion after processing
Enterprise self-hosting
Deploy PDFDancer under an Enterprise license when your organization needs control over document storage, retention, and security settings.
- Self-hosting
- On-premise deployment
- Organization-controlled data handling
Connect to your stack
Integrate with production systems
Call PDFDancer from services, scripts, workers, queues, pipelines, and custom production interfaces.
Language SDKs
Use the same document workflow across the supported language clients.
- Python
- TypeScript and Node.js
- Java
API workflow
Open a PDF session, apply operations, inspect results, and save or retrieve the output document.
- Session-based document editing
- Typed operation results
- Explicit save behavior
Pipeline integration
Embed PDF processing into the production system that already owns intake, review, release, and exception handling.
- Services and scripts
- Queues and workers
- Custom production UIs
Evidence at every step
Know what changed before the file leaves production
Detailed editing results show what changed, where it changed, what did not change, and which warnings or unsupported conditions need a decision.
Pages changed12
Edits applied38
Warnings3
Text replacement38 changes applied · pages 4, 8–12
Font replacementSource Sans Pro → Inter · 12 pages
Glyph coverage3 unsupported glyphs · pages 9, 11
Errors0
Warnings3
Affected pages4 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12
Illustrative example of the result detail production teams can inspect before release.
Common production jobs
Start with the job, then choose the capability
These workflows are examples of how production teams combine the capabilities above. They are not a replacement for the capability inventory.
Backlist and long-document updates
Apply targeted text, font, and page operations across books, manuals, and other long PDFs, then use the output report as a release gate.
Explore workflowMarketing collateral and variants
Use existing PDF assets as the starting point for controlled partner, regional, or campaign outputs.
Explore workflowProduction corrections
Correct approved output files when reopening the original publishing workflow is too slow or too costly.
Explore workflowQuality gate after generation
Review the generated PDF against the destination profile before release and route any findings back to production.
Explore workflowEvaluate your production PDF workflow
Send a representative PDF and the change you need to make. Evaluate the editing results and generated-file quality report against your release requirements.