# pdf2html
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/pdf2html)
[](https://www.npmjs.org/package/pdf2html)
[](https://travis-ci.org/shebinleo/pdf2html)
[](https://www.npmjs.org/package/pdf2html)
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> Convert PDF files to HTML, extract text, generate thumbnails, and extract metadata using Apache Tika and PDFBox
## 🚀 Features
- **PDF to HTML conversion** - Maintains formatting and structure
- **Text extraction** - Extract plain text content from PDFs
- **Page-by-page processing** - Process PDFs page by page
- **Metadata extraction** - Extract author, title, creation date, and more
- **Thumbnail generation** - Generate preview images from PDF pages
- **Buffer support** - Process PDFs from memory buffers or file paths
- **TypeScript support** - Full type definitions included
- **Async/Promise based** - Modern async API
- **Configurable** - Extensive options for customization
## 📋 Prerequisites
- **Node.js** >= 14.0.0
- **Java Runtime Environment (JRE)** >= 8
- Required for Apache Tika and PDFBox
- [Download Java](https://www.java.com/en/download/)
## 📦 Installation
### Using npm:
```bash
npm install pdf2html
```
### Using yarn:
```bash
yarn add pdf2html
```
### Using pnpm:
```bash
pnpm add pdf2html
```
The installation process will automatically download the required Apache Tika and PDFBox JAR files. You'll see a progress indicator during the download.
## 🔧 Basic Usage
### Convert PDF to HTML
```javascript
const pdf2html = require('pdf2html');
const fs = require('fs');
// From file path
const html = await pdf2html.html('path/to/document.pdf');
console.log(html);
// From buffer
const pdfBuffer = fs.readFileSync('path/to/document.pdf');
const html = await pdf2html.html(pdfBuffer);
console.log(html);
// With options
const html = await pdf2html.html(pdfBuffer, {
maxBuffer: 1024 * 1024 * 10, // 10MB buffer
});
```
### Extract Text
```javascript
// From file path
const text = await pdf2html.text('path/to/document.pdf');
// From buffer
const pdfBuffer = fs.readFileSync('path/to/document.pdf');
const text = await pdf2html.text(pdfBuffer);
console.log(text);
```
### Process Pages Individually
```javascript
// From file path
const htmlPages = await pdf2html.pages('path/to/document.pdf');
// From buffer
const pdfBuffer = fs.readFileSync('path/to/document.pdf');
const htmlPages = await pdf2html.pages(pdfBuffer);
htmlPages.forEach((page, index) => {
console.log(`Page ${index + 1}:`, page);
});
// Get text for each page
const textPages = await pdf2html.pages(pdfBuffer, {
text: true,
});
```
### Extract Metadata
```javascript
// From file path or buffer
const metadata = await pdf2html.meta(pdfBuffer);
console.log(metadata);
// Output: {
// title: 'Document Title',
// author: 'John Doe',
// subject: 'Document Subject',
// keywords: 'pdf, conversion',
// creator: 'Microsoft Word',
// producer: 'Adobe PDF Library',
// creationDate: '2023-01-01T00:00:00Z',
// modificationDate: '2023-01-02T00:00:00Z',
// pages: 10
// }
```
### Generate Thumbnails
```javascript
// From file path
const thumbnailPath = await pdf2html.thumbnail('path/to/document.pdf');
// From buffer
const pdfBuffer = fs.readFileSync('path/to/document.pdf');
const thumbnailPath = await pdf2html.thumbnail(pdfBuffer);
console.log('Thumbnail saved to:', thumbnailPath);
// Custom thumbnail options
const thumbnailPath = await pdf2html.thumbnail(pdfBuffer, {
page: 1, // Page number (default: 1)
imageType: 'png', // 'png' or 'jpg' (default: 'png')
width: 300, // Width in pixels (default: 160)
height: 400, // Height in pixels (default: 226)
});
```
## ⚙️ Advanced Configuration
### Buffer Size Configuration
By default, the maximum buffer size is 2MB. For large PDFs, you may need to increase this:
```javascript
const options = {
maxBuffer: 1024 * 1024 * 50, // 50MB buffer
};
// Apply to any method
await pdf2html.html('large-file.pdf', options);
await pdf2html.text('large-file.pdf', options);
await pdf2html.pages('large-file.pdf', options);
await pdf2html.meta('large-file.pdf', options);
await pdf2html.thumbnail('large-file.pdf', options);
```
### Error Handling
Always wrap your calls in try-catch blocks for proper error handling:
```javascript
try {
const html = await pdf2html.html('document.pdf');
// Process HTML
} catch (error) {
if (error.code === 'ENOENT') {
console.error('PDF file not found');
} else if (error.message.includes('Java')) {
console.error('Java is not installed or not in PATH');
} else {
console.error('PDF processing failed:', error.message);
}
}
```
## 🏗️ API Reference
### `pdf2html.html(input, [options])`
Converts PDF to HTML format.
- **input** `string | Buffer` - Path to the PDF file or PDF buffer
- **options** `object` (optional)
- `maxBuffer` `number` - Maximum buffer size in bytes (default: 2MB)
- **Returns:** `Promise` - HTML content
### `pdf2html.text(input, [options])`
Extracts text from PDF.
- **input** `string | Buffer` - Path to the PDF file or PDF buffer
- **options** `object` (optional)
- `maxBuffer` `number` - Maximum buffer size in bytes
- **Returns:** `Promise` - Extracted text
### `pdf2html.pages(input, [options])`
Processes PDF page by page.
- **input** `string | Buffer` - Path to the PDF file or PDF buffer
- **options** `object` (optional)
- `text` `boolean` - Extract text instead of HTML (default: false)
- `maxBuffer` `number` - Maximum buffer size in bytes
- **Returns:** `Promise` - Array of HTML or text strings
### `pdf2html.meta(input, [options])`
Extracts PDF metadata.
- **input** `string | Buffer` - Path to the PDF file or PDF buffer
- **options** `object` (optional)
- `maxBuffer` `number` - Maximum buffer size in bytes
- **Returns:** `Promise