How to fill PDF forms using Python

Question

I have a PDF form created using Adobe LiveCycle Designer ES 10.4. I need to fill it using Python so that we can reduce manual labor. I searched the web and read some article most of them were focused around pdfrw library, I tried using it and extracted some information from PDF form as shown below

Code

from pdfrw import PdfReader
pdf = PdfReader('sample.pdf')
print(pdf.keys())
print(pdf.Info)
print(pdf.Root.keys())
print('PDF has {} pages'.format(len(pdf.pages)))

Output

['/Root', '/Info', '/ID', '/Size']
{'/CreationDate': "(D:20180822164509+05'30')", '/Creator': '(Adobe LiveCycle Designer ES 10.4)', '/ModDate': "(D:20180822165611+05'30')", '/Producer': '(Adobe XML Form Module Library)'}
['/AcroForm', '/MarkInfo', '/Metadata', '/Names', '/NeedsRendering', '/Pages', '/Perms', '/StructTreeRoot', '/Type']
PDF has 1 pages

I am not sure how further I can use pdfrw to access the fillable fields from the PDF form and fill them using Python is it possible. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Cocke

Forms created in Adobe LiveCycle Designer ES 10.4 come in two flavors and your task will be different based on which one you have. Designer can create either a static XFA form, which contains a normal PDF form with fields as well as an XML component for all of the logic and scripting. Alternatively, you might have a dynamic XFA form which doesn't contain a PDF form at all but relies on Adobe Reader (and a few other viewers) to render the XML into a form on the fly. My answer will depend on which type of form you have. – Shalna

@Shalna I just have a PDF form I don't know how it is created. I can open it in Acrobat Reader. – Brookins

Can you share the file, I can identify the form type. – Shalna

Possible duplicate of How can I auto-populate a PDF form in Django/Python? – Thermochemistry

@Shalna In my PDF it is showing Producer as 'Adobe XML Form Module Library'. Can you please help me out with this question please. #62760843 – Genealogy

Answer 1

You can find the form fields here:

pdf.Root.AcroForm.Fields

or here

pdf.Root.Pages.Kids[page_index].Annots

This is a PdfArray object. Basically a List. The Name of the field is found here:

pdf.Root.AcroForm.Fields[field_index].T

Other keys include the value .V There's a bunch of display information, like the font etc under .AP.N.Resources

However, if you update the value for a field and output the pdf file. It might only display the value when the field has focus i.e is clicked on.

I haven't figured out how to fix that yet.

Oh

Answer 2

I wrote a library built upon:'pdfrw', 'pdf2image', 'Pillow', 'PyPDF2' called fillpdf (pip install fillpdf and poppler dependency conda install -c conda-forge poppler)

Basic usage:

from fillpdf import fillpdfs

fillpdfs.get_form_fields("blank.pdf")

# returns a dictionary of fields
# Set the returned dictionary values a save to a variable
# For radio boxes ('Off' = not filled, 'Yes' = filled)

data_dict = {
'Text2': 'Name',
'Text4': 'LastName',
'box': 'Yes',
}

fillpdfs.write_fillable_pdf('blank.pdf', 'new.pdf', data_dict)

# If you want it flattened:
fillpdfs.flatten_pdf('new.pdf', 'newflat.pdf')

More info here: https://github.com/t-houssian/fillpdf

If some fields don't fill, you can use fitz (pip install PyMuPDF) and PyPDF2 (pip install PyPDF2) like the following altering the points as needed:

import fitz
from PyPDF2 import PdfFileReader

file_handle = fitz.open('blank.pdf')
pdf = PdfFileReader(open('blank.pdf','rb'))
box = pdf.getPage(0).mediaBox
w = box.getWidth()
h = box.getHeight()

# For images
image_rectangle = fitz.Rect((w/2)-200,h-255,(w/2)-100,h-118)
pages = pdf.getNumPages() - 1
last_page = file_handle[pages]
last_page._wrapContents()
last_page.insertImage(image_rectangle, filename=f'image.png')

# For text
last_page.insertText(fitz.Point((w/2)-247 , h-478), 'John Smith', fontsize=14, fontname="times-bold")
file_handle.save(f'newpdf.pdf')

Providence

I'm trying to conda install poppler like you mentioned, and it just keeps hanging. Did you have any trick for it? I'm trying directly in the anaconda prompt. – Tarmac

@Tarmac Interesting. There are a few different install commands on this page to try: https://anaconda.org/conda-forge/poppler. Look here as well: https://mcmap.net/q/670591/-unable-to-install-poppler-on-windows-using-conda – Providence

You are a lifesaver, thank you so much, this worked for me after spending several days trying to fix my problem. – Masera

Answer 3

Use this to fill every fields if they are indexed.

template = PdfReader('template.pdf')
page_c = 0
while page_c < len(template.Root.Pages.Kids): #LOOP through pages
    annot_c = 0
    while annot_c < len(template.Root.Pages.Kids[page_c].Annots): #LOOP through fields
        template.Root.Pages.Kids[page_c].Annots[annot_c].update(PdfDict(V=str(annot_c)+'-'+str(page_c)))
        annot_c=annot_c+1
    page_c=page_c+1
PdfWriter().write('output.pdf', template)

Unessential

Answer 4

AcroForm based Forms using PDFix SDK

def SetFormFieldValue(email, key, open_path, save_path):
    pdfix  = GetPdfix()
    if pdfix is None:
        raise Exception('Pdfix Initialization fail')
    if not pdfix.Authorize(pdfix_email, pdfix_license):
        raise Exception('Authorization fail : ' + pdfix.GetError())
    doc = pdfix.OpenDoc(open_path, "")
    if doc is None:
        raise Exception('Unable to open pdf : ' + pdfix.GetError())
    field = doc.GetFormFieldByName("Text1")
    if field is not None:
        value = field.GetValue()
        value = "New Value"
        field.SetValue(value)
    if not doc.Save(save_path, kSaveFull):
        raise Exception(pdfix.GetError())
    doc.Close()
    pdfix.Destroy()

Bristling

Answer 5

A full solution was provided here: How to edit editable pdf using the pdfrw library?

The key part is the:

template_pdf.Root.AcroForm.update(pdfrw.PdfDict(NeedAppearances=pdfrw.PdfObject('true'))) 

Heathcote