Apache PDFBox is a Java library for working with PDF documents.
The tool addresses the need to programmatically create, modify, and extract content from PDF files. It provides APIs for creating new PDF documents from scratch, manipulating the structure and content of existing documents, and extracting text and other data. The library also bundles command-line utilities for common PDF operations, making it accessible both as an embedded component and as a standalone tool.
Developers should choose this tool when building Java applications that require PDF manipulation capabilities. It suits projects ranging from simple text extraction to complex document generation and modification workflows. The library is particularly useful for server-side PDF processing where a pure Java implementation without external dependencies is preferred.
The project maintains an active issue tracker and users mailing list where questions are answered by the community. Documentation is available through examples in the repository and separate documentation resources. The tool acknowledges known limitations, particularly around text extraction from PDFs with embedded glyph encodings where OCR would be required as a workaround.
