fillpdf

What it is and what it does

fillpdf is a wrapper around PDF manipulation libraries that simplifies reading form fields from PDFs, filling them with data, and flattening the result into a non-editable document. It builds on pdfrw2 and adds convenience functions for common tasks: extracting field names and values, writing data to form fields (text boxes, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdowns), rotating pages, and inserting images and text at specific coordinates.

The package is aimed at automating PDF form workflows—scenarios where you have a template PDF with fillable fields and need to programmatically populate them with data, then lock the result. It depends on pdfrw2, pdf2image, Pillow, and pymupdf, giving it multiple backends for different operations. The library is straightforward and practical but dormant; it has not been actively developed since its latest release.

Use it for:

• Batch-fill hundreds of application forms or invoices from a database or spreadsheet.
• Automate document generation workflows where you have a PDF template with named form fields.
• Lock completed PDF forms to prevent further editing after data entry.
• Extract and inspect form field names and structure from an existing PDF template.
• Insert signatures, images, or additional text into PDFs at precise coordinates.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Fills, flattens, and manipulates PDF forms by reading form fields, writing data to them, and inserting images and text at specified coordinates.

Yes, if you need straightforward PDF form filling and your use case matches the library's scope. Install friction is low and the MIT license is permissive. However, maintenance is dormant—no active development since 2024-05-03—so be prepared to fork or patch if you hit bugs. The dependency on pdfrw2 (a fork) adds uncertainty about long-term support. Suitable for stable, well-defined workflows; avoid if you need active maintenance or support for edge cases.

Install

fillpdf on PyPI

pip install fillpdf

uv add fillpdf

poetry add fillpdf

Installing fillpdf

Before you install

Low friction install with a pure-Python wheel. Maintenance is dormant—last release was 2024-05-03 and last commit 2024-08-06—so expect no active bug fixes or feature development.

License in practice

MIT license (permissive) means you can use, modify, and distribute this package freely in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

pip install fillpdf

from fillpdf import fillpdfs

fields = fillpdfs.get_form_fields('form.pdf')
data = {'Address1 Text Box': '500 West Main Street', 'Driving License Check Box': 'Yes'}
fillpdfs.write_fillable_pdf('form.pdf', 'filled.pdf', data)

Flattening with as_images=True requires poppler to be installed on your system; standard flattening does not.

Verify before relying

• Whether pdfrw2 (the forked pdfrw dependency) is actively maintained or has known issues.
• Compatibility of pdf2image and pymupdf dependencies with recent Python versions beyond 3.6.
• Whether the package handles complex PDF structures (nested forms, encrypted PDFs, etc.).

Package facts

Evidence: fillpdf-0.7.3-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

More Text Processing packages