n8n-nodes-pdf-utils

Custom n8n node for PDF inspection, splitting, and decryption.

Features

🔍 Inspect Operation

• Analyzes PDF structure
• Counts pages
• Detects if PDF is encrypted (returns isEncrypted: true without failing)
• Detects if PDF is vectorial (text-based) or rasterized (image-based)
• Extracts text from first page
• Performance: Very fast (tens of milliseconds)

✂️ Split Operation

• Splits multi-page PDFs into individual pages
• Creates one output item per page
• Preserves PDF quality and structure

🔓 Decrypt Operation

• Removes password protection from encrypted PDFs
• Supports user and owner passwords
• Outputs a clean, unencrypted PDF
• Requires qpdf installed on the host (see System Requirements)

System Requirements

The Decrypt operation requires qpdf to be installed on the host running n8n:

# Linux / Docker
apt-get install qpdf

# macOS
brew install qpdf

All other operations (Inspect, Split, Inspect and Split) have no system-level dependencies — they use pure npm packages only.

Installation

Option 1: Install from npm

npm install n8n-nodes-pdf-utils

Option 2: Install locally for development

1. Clone this repository
2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Build the node:

   npm run build
   

4. Link to your n8n installation:

   npm link
   cd ~/.n8n/nodes
   npm link n8n-nodes-pdf-utils
   

5. Restart n8n

Option 3: Install in n8n using community nodes

1. Go to Settings > Community Nodes
2. Click Install
3. Enter: n8n-nodes-pdf-utils
4. Click Install

Usage

Inspect Operation

Input: Binary data containing a PDF file

Parameters:

• Binary Property: Name of the binary property (default: "data")
• Text Threshold: Minimum text length to consider PDF as vectorial (default: 50)

Output: Single item with analysis + original PDF binary

If the PDF is not encrypted:

{
  "json": {
    "isEncrypted": false,
    "pageCount": 5,
    "isMultiPage": true,
    "isVectorial": false,
    "textLength": 23,
    "firstPageText": "Preview of first 200 characters..."
  },
  "binary": {
    "data": "<original PDF>"
  }
}

If the PDF is encrypted (no password needed to detect it):

{
  "json": {
    "isEncrypted": true
  },
  "binary": {
    "data": "<original PDF>"
  }
}

Example workflow:

HTTP Request (download PDF)
  → PDF Utils (Inspect)
    → IF (isEncrypted)
      → PDF Utils (Decrypt) → PDF Utils (Inspect again)
    → IF (isVectorial)
      → Route A (text processing with PDF)
      → Route B (OCR processing with PDF)

Inspect and Split Operation

Input: Binary data containing a PDF file

Parameters:

• Binary Property: Name of the binary property (default: "data")
• Text Threshold: Minimum text length to consider PDF as vectorial (default: 50)
• Output Binary Property: Name for output binary property (default: "data")

Output:

• If vectorial: Single item with analysis + original PDF (pass-through)
• If not vectorial: Multiple items, one per page (split)

Example workflow:

HTTP Request (download PDF)
  → PDF Utils (Inspect and Split)
    → Vectorial PDFs pass through as-is
    → Scanned PDFs split into pages automatically

Use case: Automatically handle different PDF types without manual branching:

• Text-based PDFs (vectorial) → process as whole document
• Scanned PDFs (non-vectorial) → OCR each page individually

Decrypt Operation

Input: Binary data containing a password-protected PDF

Requires qpdf installed on the host — see System Requirements.

Parameters:

• Binary Property: Name of the input binary property (default: "data")
• Password: User or owner password to decrypt the PDF
• Output Binary Property: Name for the output binary property (default: "data")

Output: Single item with the decrypted PDF binary

{
  "json": {
    "decrypted": true,
    "originalFileName": "document.pdf"
  },
  "binary": {
    "data": "<decrypted PDF>"
  }
}

Example workflow:

HTTP Request (download encrypted PDF)
  → PDF Utils (Decrypt)
    → PDF Utils (Inspect or Split)

Split Operation

Input: Binary data containing a multi-page PDF

Parameters:

• Binary Property: Name of the input binary property (default: "data")
• Output Binary Property: Name for output binary property (default: "data")

Output: Multiple items, one per page

• Each item contains binary data with a single-page PDF
• JSON includes pageNumber and originalFileName

Example workflow:

HTTP Request (download PDF)
  → PDF Utils (Split)
    → Loop Over Items
      → Process each page individually

Technical Details

Dependencies

• pdfjs-dist (v5.4.394): For PDF analysis and text extraction (uses legacy build for Node.js)
• pdf-lib (v1.17.1): For PDF manipulation and splitting
• qpdf (system binary): Required only for the Decrypt operation

Why These Libraries?

1. pdfjs-dist: Mozilla's PDF.js library - battle-tested, used in Firefox (headless mode, no canvas needed). We use the legacy build (pdfjs-dist/legacy/build/pdf.mjs) which is specifically designed for Node.js environments without DOM dependencies.
2. pdf-lib: Pure JavaScript, no native dependencies, excellent for manipulation
3. qpdf: The gold standard for PDF decryption — handles AES-128, AES-256, and RC4 encryption. Must be installed on the host system (not bundled in npm).

Performance

• Inspect: Very fast (~10-50ms for typical PDFs)
• Split: Fast, scales linearly with page count (~50-200ms per page)
• Decrypt: Depends on qpdf and PDF size (~100-500ms typical)

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Watch mode for development
npm run dev

# Lint
npm run lint

# Format code
npm run format

Troubleshooting

n8n doesn't detect the node

1. Ensure n8n is restarted after installation
2. Check that the node is in ~/.n8n/nodes or installed globally
3. Verify package.json has correct n8n.nodes configuration

"qpdf is not installed" error

Install qpdf on the host running n8n:

apt-get install qpdf   # Linux / Docker
brew install qpdf      # macOS

If running n8n in Docker, add it to your Dockerfile:

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y qpdf && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

"pdfjs-dist" errors

If you encounter issues with pdfjs-dist, ensure you're using Node.js 16 or higher:

node --version  # Should be v16.0.0 or higher

License

MIT

Author

Roberto Michelena - INFINITEK S.A.C.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

Roadmap

• Decrypt password-protected PDFs
• Add merge operation
• Add extract pages by range
• Add rotate pages operation
• Add compress PDF operation
• Add watermark operation