Some important commands on using "pdftk"

pdftk is a powerful tool. It can be used to cut, merge, and edit pdf file. Even I have PDF Studio Pro, in several cases (merging copyrighted pdf) it failed, but pdftk works. Here some important pdftk commands to work with pdf files.

# Collate scanned pages

    pdftk A=even.pdf B=odd.pdf shuffle A B output collated.pdf

   # or if odd.pdf is in reverse order:

    pdftk A=even.pdf B=odd.pdf shuffle A Bend-1 output collated.pdf

# Decrypt a PDF

    pdftk secured.pdf input_pw foopass output unsecured.pdf

# Encrypt a PDF using 128-bit strength (the default), withhold all permissions (the default)

    pdftk 1.pdf output 1.128.pdf owner_pw foopass

# Same as above, except password baz must also be used to open output PDF

    pdftk 1.pdf output 1.128.pdf owner_pw foo user_pw baz

# Same as above, except printing is allowed (once the PDF is open)

    pdftk 1.pdf output 1.128.pdf owner_pw foo user_pw baz allow printing

# Join in1.pdf and in2.pdf into a new PDF, out1.pdf

    pdftk in1.pdf in2.pdf cat output out1.pdf

   # or (using handles):

    pdftk A=in1.pdf B=in2.pdf cat A B output out1.pdf

   # or (using wildcards alphabetically):

    pdftk *.pdf cat output combined.pdf

# Remove page 13 from in1.pdf to create out1.pdf

    pdftk in.pdf cat 1-12 14-end output out1.pdf

   # or:

    pdftk A=in1.pdf cat A1-12 A14-end output out1.pdf

# When using the Windows command-prompt, it helps to use drag-and-drop from the file manager: drag the input PDF file from the file manager onto the command-prompt, and its full pathname will appear at the prompt.

# Apply 40-bit encryption to output, revoking all permissions (the default). Set the owner PW to foopass.

    pdftk 1.pdf 2.pdf cat output 3.pdf encrypt_40bit owner_pw foopass

# Join two files, one of which requires the password foopass. The output is not encrypted.

    pdftk A=secured.pdf 2.pdf input_pw A=foopass cat output 3.pdf

# Uncompress PDF page streams for editing the PDF in a text editor (e.g., vim, emacs)

    pdftk doc.pdf output doc.unc.pdf uncompress

# Repair a PDF’s corrupted XREF table and stream lengths, if possible

    pdftk broken.pdf output fixed.pdf

# Burst a single PDF document into pages and dump its data to doc_data.txt

    pdftk in.pdf burst

# Burst a single PDF document into encrypted pages. Allow low-quality printing

    pdftk in.pdf burst owner_pw foopass allow DegradedPrinting

# Write a report on PDF document metadata and bookmarks to report.txt

    pdftk in.pdf dump_data output report.txt

# Rotate the first PDF page to 90 degrees clockwise

    pdftk in.pdf cat 1east 2-end output out.pdf

# Rotate an entire PDF document to 180 degrees

    pdftk in.pdf cat 1-endsouth output out.pdf
    
# Inverse the page order from 1-end to end-1.

    pdftk in.pdf cat end-1 output output.pdf