interactive-pdf

A Python-based project for generating and/or processing interactive PDF workflows using a clean input/output folder structure.

This repository is organized to keep source PDFs, processing scripts, and generated PDF outputs separated, which makes it easier to test, batch-process, and iterate on PDF automation tasks.

Features

• Python-based PDF workflow
• Dedicated scripts folder for processing logic
• Input staging folder for source PDFs
• Output folder for generated/processed PDFs
• MIT licensed
• Includes Code of Conduct and Security Policy

Repository Structure

interactive-pdf/
├── scripts/         # Python scripts for PDF processing / generation
├── tmp/
│   └── pdfs/        # Source/input PDFs (temporary working files)
├── output/
│   └── pdf/         # Generated/processed PDF outputs
├── LICENSE
├── CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
└── SECURITY.md

What this project is for

This repo is a good foundation for tasks like:

• Creating interactive PDF forms
• Filling existing PDF forms programmatically
• Batch processing PDF files
• Converting templates into reusable form documents
• Building small PDF automation pipelines

Depending on your script implementation, “interactive PDF” may include form fields (text boxes, checkboxes, dropdowns), links, buttons, annotations, or scripted PDF actions.

Requirements

• Python 3.9+ (recommended)

• PDF libraries (depends on your scripts), commonly:

  • pypdf / PyPDF2
  • pdfrw
  • reportlab
  • pymupdf (fitz)
  • fpdf2

If your repo has a requirements.txt, install with:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Otherwise install the libraries used by your scripts manually, e.g.:

pip install pypdf reportlab

Quick Start

1) Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/kai9987kai/interactive-pdf.git
cd interactive-pdf

2) Add your source PDFs

Put the PDFs you want to process in:

tmp/pdfs/

3) Run the processing script(s)

Run your Python scripts from the scripts/ folder.

Examples (replace with your actual script names):

python scripts/main.py

or

python scripts/process_pdf.py

or batch-run all scripts one-by-one (PowerShell):

Get-ChildItem .\scripts\*.py | ForEach-Object { python $_.FullName }

4) Check the output

Processed/generated PDFs should appear in:

output/pdf/

Typical Workflow

1. Drop PDF templates or source documents into tmp/pdfs/
2. Run a script from scripts/
3. Inspect generated results in output/pdf/
4. Adjust script logic (field placement, naming, values, annotations, etc.)
5. Re-run until the output matches your desired interactive behavior

Example Use Cases

• Form generation

  • Add text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdowns

• Form filling

  • Populate existing PDF form fields from Python data

• Document automation

  • Generate repeatable forms/invoices/worksheets

• Template pipelines

  • Read PDFs from tmp/pdfs/, process them, save to output/pdf/

Development Tips

Keep inputs and outputs separate

Using tmp/pdfs/ for incoming files and output/pdf/ for generated files avoids overwriting originals and makes debugging much easier.

Use deterministic filenames

For batch jobs, save outputs with predictable names, e.g.:

• form_filled_001.pdf
• invoice_2026-02-23.pdf
• template_interactive_v2.pdf

Validate in multiple PDF viewers

Interactive features can behave differently depending on the PDF viewer:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Browser PDF viewers (Chrome/Edge)
• macOS Preview (some features may be limited)

Troubleshooting

Output PDF not appearing

• Confirm your script writes to output/pdf/
• Ensure the directory exists (create it in code if needed)
• Check for path separator issues on Windows vs macOS/Linux

Form fields don’t show correctly

• Some libraries require appearance streams or field flags to be set
• Test the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader for better compatibility
• Ensure field names are unique if generating many fields

Script can’t find input PDF

• Verify the file is inside tmp/pdfs/
• Use absolute paths during debugging
• Print resolved paths in your script to confirm

Suggested Improvements (optional)

If you want to grow this repo, consider adding:

• requirements.txt

• README examples with screenshots/GIFs

• CLI support (argparse) for:

  • --input
  • --output
  • --batch

• Logging (logging module)

• Automated tests for PDF generation output

• Sample PDFs in tmp/pdfs/ (or a samples/ folder)

Contributing

Contributions are welcome.

1. Fork the repo
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test with sample PDFs
5. Open a pull request

Please read the included Code of Conduct and Security Policy before contributing.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.

Author

Kai Piper GitHub: @kai9987kai

"GitHub - kai9987kai/interactive-pdf"