Add Pages to PDFs

Document Engine lets you add new pages to a document by sending a multipart request to the /api/build endpoint(opens in a new tab) and attaching the input file(s) and the instructions JSON. This guide provides some examples of adding new pages to PDFs.

For more information, refer to the API reference to learn about the /api/build endpoint and all the actions you can perform on PDFs with Document Engine.

For an overview of multipart requests, refer to the brief tour of multipart requests blog post.

Adding a Page to a File on Disk

The instructions in this example will insert a new A4-size page after the first page of the document:

Terminal window
curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/api/build \
  -H "Authorization: Token token=<API token>" \
  -F document=@/path/to/example-document.pdf \
  -F instructions='{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": "document",
      "actions": [
        {
          "type": "insertPage",
          "afterPageIndex": 0,
          "pageWidth": 595,
          "pageHeight": 842
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}' \
  -o result.pdf

You can also specify the beforePageIndex option for the insertPage action(opens in a new tab), but note that either afterPageIndex or beforePageIndex is required, and you cannot provide both. /build will return error messages if you attempt a request specifying both options for an insertPage action.

You can also add a new page using the NewPagePart action(opens in a new tab) instead of the insertPage action.

This example adds two blank pages after the first page of the document.

The instructions in this example will insert two new A4 pages after the first page of the document:

Terminal window
curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/api/build \
  -H "Authorization: Token token=<API token>" \
  -F document=@/path/to/example-document.pdf \
  -F instructions='{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": "document",
      "pages": {
        "start": 0,
        "end": 0
      }
    },
    {
      "page": "new",
      "pageCount": 2
    },
    {
      "file": "document",
      "pages": {
        "start": 1,
        "end": 7
      }
    }
  ]
}' \
  -o result.pdf

Adding a Page to a File from a URL

To add an A4 page after the first page of the document at the provided URL, use the following code example:

Terminal window
curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/api/build \
  -H "Authorization: Token token=<API token>" \
  -F instructions='{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": {
        "url": "https://pspdfkit.com/downloads/examples/paper.pdf"
      },
      "actions": [
        {
          "type": "insertPage",
          "afterPageIndex": 0,
          "pageWidth": 595,
          "pageHeight": 842
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}' \
  -o result.pdf