Extract Attachments from PDF

Extract Specific Attachment from PDF

Extract a single embedded file from a PDF document using Python and Aspose.PDF. It searches for an attachment by name, retrieves its content, and saves it as a separate file. This is useful for accessing embedded documents such as reports, logs, or supporting files stored inside PDF.

1. Define Function ’extract_single_attachment()'.
2. Open PDF Document.
3. Search for Attachment.
4. Extract Attachment Content.

import aspose.pdf as ap

def extract_single_attachment(infile, attachment_name, outfile):
    with ap.Document(infile) as document:
        print(f"Extracting attachment: {attachment_name}")

        attachment_found = False
        for file_spec in document.embedded_files:
            if file_spec.name == attachment_name:
                with open(outfile, "wb") as f:
                    f.write(file_spec.contents.read())
                print("Attachment extracted successfully")
                attachment_found = True
                break

        if not attachment_found:
            raise ValueError(f"Attachment '{attachment_name}' not found in PDF")

Display Metadata of File Attachment

This helper function prints metadata information from a file specification object. It is typically used when working with embedded file attachments in PDFs using Aspose.PDF, allowing developers to inspect details such as checksum, creation date, modification date, and file size.

def _print_file_params(params):
    """Helper to print file specification parameters."""
    if params:
        print(f"CheckSum: {params.check_sum}")
        print(f"Creation Date: {params.creation_date}")
        print(f"Modification Date: {params.mod_date}")
        print(f"Size: {params.size}")

Extract and Inspect All PDF Attachments

This code snippet shows how to extract all embedded files from a PDF document using Python and Aspose.PDF. It not only saves each attachment to a specified folder but also prints detailed metadata such as file name, description, MIME type, checksum, and timestamps. This is useful for auditing, exporting, or processing embedded content in PDF files.

from os import path
import aspose.pdf as ap

def extract_attachments(infile, output_dir):
    with ap.Document(infile) as document:
        print(f"Total files: {len(document.embedded_files)}")

        for file_spec in document.embedded_files:
            print(f"Name: {file_spec.name}")
            print(f"Description: {file_spec.description}")
            print(f"Mime Type: {file_spec.mime_type}")
            _print_file_params(file_spec.params)

            output_path = path.join(output_dir, file_spec.name)
            with open(output_path, "wb") as f:
                f.write(file_spec.contents.read())

Extract Files from PDF Attachment Annotations

Extract an embedded file from a FileAttachment annotation in a PDF using Python and Aspose.PDF. It searches the first page for the first attachment annotation, retrieves the embedded file, and saves it to a selected output directory. This is useful when PDFs contain clickable file attachment icons instead of standard embedded file collections.

from os import path
import aspose.pdf as ap
from aspose.pycore import cast

def extract_file_attachment_annotation(infile, output_dir):
    # Open PDF document
    with ap.Document(infile) as document:

        # Get first page
        page = document.pages[1]

        # Find first FileAttachment annotation
        file_attachment = next(
            (
                annot
                for annot in page.annotations
                if annot.annotation_type == ap.annotations.AnnotationType.FILE_ATTACHMENT
            ),
            None,
        )

        if file_attachment is None:
            print("No FileAttachment annotation found on the first page.")
            return

        # Cast to FileAttachmentAnnotation
        faa = cast(ap.annotations.FileAttachmentAnnotation, file_attachment)

        # Access embedded file
        file_spec = faa.file
        print(f"File name: {file_spec.name}")

        # Save embedded file to disk
        output_path = path.join(output_dir, f"extracted-{file_spec.name}")
        with open(output_path, "wb") as f:
            f.write(file_spec.contents.read())

        print(f"Extracted to: {output_path}")