Acrobat Pro DC command line execution

[vasanthi.r]

Can we access and do the actions available in Acrobat Pro DC such as Edit PDF using command line execution? is it possible? if yes, please help me with the execution procedure.

[Thom Parker · Accepted solution]

Here's the reference, there is not a lot you can do from the command line.

https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/devnet/acrobat/pdfs/pdf_open_parameters.pdf

However, there is an interface for connecting with Acrobat from other applications.

https://help.adobe.com/en_US/acrobat/acrobat_dc_sdk/2015/HTMLHelp/#t=Acro12_MasterBook%2FAcro_Intera...

[Test Screen Name]

No. 

There is a Acrobat SDK, with thousands of pages of documentation of developer interfaces. No command line.

Editing is an interactive function.

[vasanthi.r]

Thanks for the reply.

Can you please tell me how to get ACrobat SDK? is there any license cost applicable for that or is it possible to get the trial version to check the feasibility for our requirement?

[Test Screen Name]

The Acrobat SDK is a free download (with license conditions). 

https://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/documentation.html

One crucial restriction is that Acrobat is licensed to a single user and technically works only in an interactive session. So you cannot use the Acrobat SDK to make server processes, nor use it to set up to do work for other people by any means (e.g. watched folders). If you create apps using Acrobat and the SDK, each user must choose to run them for their own files.

[vasanthi.r]

can you please let me know how much the license cost would be for a single user?

[Test Screen Name]

There is no cost to the SDK. The cost is the normal per-user licensing of Acrobat.

[vasanthi.r]

'Editing is an interactive function' means can't we acieve this functionality through any APIs in Acrobat SDK?

or

is there any API available for Edit PDF?

[Thom Parker · Accepted solution]

Here's the reference, there is not a lot you can do from the command line.

https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/devnet/acrobat/pdfs/pdf_open_parameters.pdf

However, there is an interface for connecting with Acrobat from other applications.

https://help.adobe.com/en_US/acrobat/acrobat_dc_sdk/2015/HTMLHelp/#t=Acro12_MasterBook%2FAcro_Intera...

[vasanthi.r]

thank you

[Bill36651763yrhr]

The link you have here for pdf_open_parameters.pdf here redirects to https://opensource.adobe.com/dc-acrobat-sdk-docs/ , which provides no information concerning command-line use of the sdk. Do you have an up-to-date link you could share? Thanks!

[Thom Parker · Accepted solution]

Try this one:

https://pdfobject.com/pdf/pdf_open_parameters_acro8.pdf

[Test Screen Name]

"is there any API available for Edit PDF?"

There is no API that goes directly to the Edit PDF function. Some limited editing is available. PDF experts working in C++ can write plug-ins to do any editing, though it can be a big project. To give you better advice, please describe in detail the kind of edits you try to automate.

[vasanthi.r]

The exact functionality happens when the Edit PDF (in Acrobat DC) option is clicked. Suppose if I input the scanned copy of documents in PDF in should convert it to text using OCR. Can this be automated to run in back end without opening the Acrobat tool?

[Test Screen Name]

Please tell us exactly WHICH exact functionality. No, there is not a general answer. Most people think of the Edit PDF function as the ability to "click and type to edit". That is an example of something very complex to implement, which would not hook into the Edit PDF functionality directly (there would be no fuzzy logic to create text boxes, no OCR, for example)

There is a rather limited and uncertain way to do OCR programmatically, I believe; if your need is bulk OCR I suggest you look at non-Adobe tools which specialise in this.

The Acrobat tool always has to open, you are automating Acrobat, not replacing it.

[silvius5E6F]

I've found this thread after facing a similar challenge with vasanthi.r and I hope that I can receive some ideas. I have a few hundreds of PDF files produced for printing purposes (high res, high size) and I want to optimize them. I'm using the latest Acrobat Pro DC and one of the Tools from the interface allows me to optimize the PDF and to reduce the file size without affecting the actual print quality of the materials. Does anyone know a way to access this Optimization function automatically for a set of files and not be forced to open them one by one in the DC's interface?

Thank you and regards!

[neljohn]

@Test Screen Name : It sounds like some specific functions can be executed via command line, but you need to know the exact function. Is it possible to add pagination in a footer/header via command line? We would want the current page and total pages, i.e. Page X of Y.

We are generating a report from our LIMS software in Crystal Reports, but the pagination breaks when there are crosstabs that span more than one page. A 3rd party software to add pagination is where we are currently investigating. 

Thanks for any info.

[Thom Parker]

The "open parameters" document lists all command line options for Acrobat.  Read it. It will tell you whether or not your specific requirement can be met.