How to append PDF pages using PyPDF2
pdf, pdf-generation, pypdf, python
Solution
As I'm searching the web for python pdf merging solution, I noticed that there's a general misconception with merging versus appending.
Most people call the appending action a merge but it's not. What you're describing in your question is really the intended use of `mergePage` which should be called `applyPageOnTopOfAnother` but that's a little long. What you are (were) looking for is really appending two files/pages into a new file.
Appending PDF files
Using the `PdfFileMerger` class and its `append` method.
Identical to the `merge()` method, but assumes you want to concatenate all pages onto the end of the file instead of specifying a position.
Here's one way to do it taken from pypdf Merging multiple pdf files into one pdf:
from PyPDF2 import PdfFileMerger, PdfFileReader
# ...
merger = PdfFileMerger()
merger.append(PdfFileReader(file(filename1, 'rb')))
merger.append(PdfFileReader(file(filename2, 'rb')))
merger.write("document-output.pdf")
Appending specific PDF pages
And to append specific pages of different PDF files, use the `PdfFileWriter` class with the `addPage` method.
Adds a page to this PDF file. The page is usually acquired from a `PdfFileReader` instance.
file1 = PdfFileReader(file(filename1, "rb"))
file2 = PdfFileReader(file(filename2, "rb"))
output = PdfFileWriter()
output.addPage(file1.getPage(specificPageIndex))
output.addPage(file2.getPage(specificPageIndex))
outputStream = file("document-output.pdf", "wb")
output.write(outputStream)
outputStream.close()
Merging two pages into one page
Using `mergePage`
Merges the content streams of two pages into one. Resource references (i.e. fonts) are maintained from both pages. The mediabox/cropbox/etc of this page are not altered. The parameter page’s content stream will be added to the end of this page’s content stream, meaning that it will be drawn after, or “on top” of this page.
file1 = PdfFileReader(file(filename1, "rb"))
file2 = PdfFileReader(file(filename2, "rb"))
output = PdfFileWriter()
page = file1.getPage(specificPageIndex)
page.mergePage(file2.getPage(specificPageIndex))
output.addPage(page)
outputStream = file("document-output.pdf", "wb")
output.write(outputStream)
outputStream.close()
Problem
Is anybody has experience merging two page of PDF file into one using python lib PyPDF2. When I try `page1.mergePage(page2)` it results with page2 overlayed page1. How to make it to add page2 to the bottom of the page1?