Need help editing a PDF

[omar]

I want to find out what I can do in Python for editing PDFs.
The PDF's will have many pages, each page with have 4 labels.
I need to add extra information on each label. It's super important that each label is left in it's original format and nothing is added or removed - but... I do need to read the information from each label and compare with a file in a CSV record.

I want 2 versions...

First version:
I want to add extra information on a specific location on the label.
The extra information will be a simple clipart graphic.

Second version:
I want to shrink the labels by 20% from the top left - so I can add my extra information below in the extra space that will be made when I reduce by 20%.
Ideally... I would like to NOT reduce my reducing an image of the labels. The labels contain text and a barcode and a QR code. It's important that all these still remain in tact but just reduced.

Just looking for ideas right now 🙂
What libraries and tools are there that I can use to do what I want?
I want to know what I can and cannot do in Python given the above description.

Thanks.

[rob101]

I've also been looking into PDF editing and I think I'll be using PyPDF2 2.11.1

Not had time to go in deep, but what I've found so far looks good (for my usage, least ways).

I hope it helps you.

[Pedroski55]

I think what you need to do is make a new pdf and copy stuff from the old pdf to the new one, modifying on the way.

Have a look here for a simple example.

I use reportlab to create pdfs sometimes. Once you have the format set, the rest is easy! I only use pypdf2 for getting sections, chapters, pages of a pdf.

reportlab seems complicated at first, but you have absolute control over everything.

Read the reportlab user guide! (But I don't think it contains exhaustive info on all possibilities within reportlab, you have to ask around.)

[omar]

Thanks for the replies guys.
It would be much much more preferable for me to edit and add to the existing PDF as opposed to create a new one.

The existing PDF has square outlines as well.

Just wondering... do PDF's have some sort of structure like HTML? 🧐
That would definitely help my cause.

See the pic below. I want to write code that searches for 'Code 123456' and below if inserts text and graphics that I want to add.



Hoping the pic helps to explain what I want. Thanks.

@Pedroski55 Your link looks perfect... just read the sample code. I think it's got the start of what I'm looking for. 🙂
My PDF will be 10 - 50 pages, for each page there are 4 sections where new content needs to be added. I'm sure if I can master editing 2 pages, then I'll be good to go from there.

[Larz60+]

FYI:

If you are interested in getting down to the nitty gritty of pdf's start here, this is useful when writing partial handlers, or if you had something greater in mind.