How to split/crop a pdf along the middle using pyPdf

Question

I have a pdf that looks like this and i'd like to crop all the text out, almost right down the middle of the page. I found this script that does something simmilar:

def splitHorizontal():
from pyPdf import PdfFileWriter, PdfFileReader
input1 = PdfFileReader(file("in.pdf", "rb"))
output = PdfFileWriter()

numPages = input1.getNumPages()
print "document has %s pages." % numPages

for i in range(numPages):
    page = input1.getPage(i)
    print page.mediaBox.getUpperRight_x(), page.mediaBox.getUpperRight_y()
    page.trimBox.lowerLeft = (25, 25)
    page.trimBox.upperRight = (225, 225)
    page.cropBox.lowerLeft = (50, 50)
    page.cropBox.upperRight = (200, 200)
    output.addPage(page)

outputStream = file("out.pdf", "wb")
output.write(outputStream)
outputStream.close()

However these crop dimensions are tuned to that specific example. Can anyone show me how to find the correct crop dimensions.

What does `getUpperLeft_x()` give you? – Peter Wood Dec 06 '14 at 21:18 — Peter Wood, Dec 06 '14 at 21:18

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:21

I originally got the script from here --> Cropping pages of a .pdf file.

I read more into what the author had said, finally realizing that he had said:

The resulting document has a trim box that is 200x200 points and starts at 25,25 points inside the media box. The crop box is 25 points inside the trim box.

meaning

page.cropBox.upperRight = (200, 200)

must control the ultimate margins, i therefore adjusted the statement to

page.cropBox.upperLeft = (290, 792)

To mirror the cropping onto the other side and make sure the cropping holds the full vertical value

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 02 '21 at 01:12

Chops each page in half, e.g. if a source were created in booklet form, and then re-combines it for further processing eg. text extraction

Importing required libraries

from PyPDF2 import PdfFileWriter,PdfFileReader,PdfFileMerger

Splitting Left Part

with open("docu.pdf", "rb") as in_f:
    input1 = PdfFileReader(in_f)
    output = PdfFileWriter()

    numPages = input1.getNumPages()

    for i in range(numPages):
        page = input1.getPage(i)
        page.cropBox.lowerLeft = (60, 50)
        page.cropBox.upperRight = (305, 700)
        output.addPage(page)

    with open("left.pdf", "wb") as out_f:
        output.write(out_f)

Splitting right part :

with open("docu.pdf", "rb") as in_f:
    input1 = PdfFileReader(in_f)
    output = PdfFileWriter()

    numPages = input1.getNumPages()

    for i in range(numPages):
        page = input1.getPage(i)
        page.cropBox.lowerLeft = (300, 50)
        page.cropBox.upperRight = (540, 700)
        output.addPage(page)

    with open("right.pdf", "wb") as out_f:
        output.write(out_f)

Combining left with right (two columns to two pages)

input1 = PdfFileReader(open("left.pdf","rb"))
input2 = PdfFileReader(open("right.pdf","rb"))
output = PdfFileWriter()
numPages = input1.getNumPages()

for i in range(numPages):
    l = input1.getPage(i)
    output.addPage(l)
    r = input2.getPage(i)
    output.addPage(r)

with open("out.pdf", "wb") as out_f:
    output.write(out_f)

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 16 '22 at 11:32

I faced the same challenge and I wrote this (require PyPDF2):

https://gist.github.com/kintaro1981/eb6cfc6f40a7fb39744f5ae630d58fd5

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
"""
This script splits each pdf page in half vertically and merge them in a single PDF in order.
It asks how many pages do you want to skip to avoid splitting a book cover or a specific number of initial pages.
Usage:
python cutpdfpages.py <filename.pdf> <newfilename.pdf>
"""

import sys
import copy
from PyPDF2 import PdfWriter, PdfReader

file = str(sys.argv[1])
newfile = str(sys.argv[2])

with open(file, "rb") as pdf1:
    pdf = PdfReader(pdf1)
    output = PdfWriter()
    numpages = pdf.getNumPages()
    page2skip =  int(input('Insert how many pages do you want to skip: '))

    for i in range(page2skip, numpages):
        page = pdf.pages[i]
        pagebis = copy.copy(page)
        page.mediabox.upper_left = (page.mediabox.right / 2, page.mediabox.top,)
        output.add_page(page)
        pagebis.mediabox.upper_right = (pagebis.mediabox.right / 2, pagebis.mediabox.top,)
        output.add_page(pagebis)

    with open(newfile, "wb") as newpdf:
        output.write(newpdf)

How to split/crop a pdf along the middle using pyPdf

3 Answers3

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