#  `export_fonts`

Export fonts and a JSON manifest for external editing
## Usage
> pdftl `<input>` `export_fonts` `[<spec>...]` `<dir>` `[output` `<output>]`

## Details
The `export_fonts` operation extracts embedded and referenced font assets from the
PDF, writes their binary programs (.ttf, .otf, .pfb) to a directory, and compiles
their wrapping metrics (/Widths, /W, /Differences) and /ToUnicode mappings into a
unified, structured JSON file.

This unifies character code mappings and layout metrics into a single sidecar file:
  `font_{obj_id}_{gen_id}_{name}.json`

This file contains character-by-character definitions of both layout metrics
(width) and semantic mappings (unicode) using a unified hexadecimal indexing schema.
It also carries a top-level `width_sync_mode` field (default `auto`) that
controls how [`import_fonts`](<import_fonts.md>) reconciles width edits back into the PDF — see
[`import_fonts`](<import_fonts.md>) help for the available modes.

### Arguments

* `<directory>`: **(Required)** The directory where the extracted font files will be saved.
* `[output <manifest.json>]`: The file path to save the JSON manifest. If omitted, the
  manifest is automatically saved as `manifest.json` inside the specified directory.
  Specify `output -` to print the manifest directly to standard output.
* `[tounicode=<json|ps|all>]`: Which format to use for /ToUnicode mapping sidecars.
  - `json` (default): Write high-level unified character mapping JSON.
  - `ps`: Write raw CMap PostScript stream text.
  - `all`: Write both formats side-by-side.
* `[page_range]`: Optional page ranges to limit the extraction.
## Examples

> Extract all fonts to 'my_fonts/' and save the manifest to 'my_fonts/manifest.json'.
```
pdftl in.pdf export_fonts my_fonts
```

> Extract fonts from pages 1-5 into 'edited_assets/' and write manifest to 'manifest.json'.
```
pdftl in.pdf export_fonts 1-5 edited_assets tounicode=all output manifest.json
```


**Tags**: info, metadata, fonts, export

*Source: pdftl.operations.export_import_fonts*

*Read online: [https://pdftl.readthedocs.io/en/latest/operations/export_fonts.html](https://pdftl.readthedocs.io/en/latest/operations/export_fonts.html)*

*Type: Operation*