Save PDFs to local storage in Java

This guide explains how to save a document to local storage.

Save and save as

To save any changes made to a PdfDocument, use save or saveAs.

save will overwrite the original document:

document.save(new DocumentSaveOptions.Builder().build());

Use saveAs to write to a specific new location. Use the FileDataProvider for saving to the file system:

File file = new File("/path/to/new/save-location.pdf");
document.saveAs(new FileDataProvider(file), new DocumentSaveOptions.Builder().build());

Document save options

Use DocumentSaveOptions for more control over a document’s saving behavior. The following options are supported:

  • applyRedactionAnnotations — Applies any redaction annotations present. A full save will be performed, as it isn’t possible to apply redactions incrementally.

  • flattenAnnotations — Flattens any annotations present. The incremental flag will be ignored when flattening.

  • forceSave — Forces a save even if there were no modifications.

  • incremental — Instead of rewriting a PDF, changes will be appended to it. This typically results in a significantly faster save if the document is large, as only the changes are added. It isn’t possible to save incrementally when the flattenAnnotations or applyRedactionsAnnotations options are turned on.

Example

DocumentSaveOptions can be created using the save options Builder. Here’s an example showing how to flatten annotations when saving:

document.save(new DocumentSaveOptions.Builder().flattenAnnotations(true).build());