Processing PDF
Ghostscript
- Linux (gs command line tool, built-in)
- Mac
Install Ghostscript via MacPorts, Homebrew, or just use the Preview.app GUI to drag & drop, save. - Windows
Open Source - PDF Creator bundled
Optimize PDF
reduce file size for transferring
gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/screen -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=output.pdf input.pdf
Combine multiple PDF files
Merge multiple PDF files into 1
gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -SOutputFile=combined.pdf 1.pdf 2.pdf
Extract pages from a PDF file
Extract pages from a PDF file
gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -dSAFER \ -dFirstPage=10 -dLastPage=12 \ -sOutputFile=outfile_p10-p12.pdf 100p-inputfile.pdf
Delete certain pages of a PDF document
Delete from PDF file
gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -dFirstPage=m -dLastPage=n -sOutputFile=output.pdf input.pdf
where m and n are positive integers (page numbers), for example the above command only prints out pages starting from page number m through n of input.pdf into output.pdf.
Recommended Viewers
Linux
evince (GNOME)
zathura (Command Line Interface)
Windows
Foxit Reader (Windows and Linux)
Mac OS X
Mac (Preview.app)
Adobe Reader for Linux is crap, NOT recommended.
Cross Platform (Browser built-in)
pdf.js for Firefox if you don't want a client installed.
Chrome PDF Viewer (enable it in chrome://plugins)