place

Shift, scale, and spin page content

Usage

pdftl <input> place <spec>... output <file>

Details

Applies geometric transformations (direct similarities) to the content of selected pages.

<spec> syntax: [<pages>](<operation>...)

Operations:

  • shift=dx, dy Moves content by the specified x and y distances. Supports units (pt, in, cm, mm) and percentages relative to page size. Example: shift=1in, 50%

  • scale=factor[:anchor] Scales content by a multiplier (e.g., 0.5 for half size). Optional anchor determines the fixed point (default: center).

  • spin=angle[:anchor] Rotates content by degrees clockwise. Optional anchor determines the pivot point (default: center).

More than one operation can be given. They should be separated by semicolons, ‘;’. Operations are applied in the order they appear, from left to right.

Anchors: Anchors define the center of scaling or rotation.

  • Named: center (default), top-left, top, top-right, left, right, bottom-left, bottom, bottom-right.

  • Coordinate: x,y (e.g., 0,0 for bottom-left corner).

Examples

Shift all pages up by 1 inch

pdftl in.pdf place '(shift=0, 1in)' output out.pdf

Shrink odd pages to 90% size, centered

pdftl in.pdf place 'odd(scale=0.9)' output out.pdf

Rotate page 1 by 45 degrees around the top-left corner

pdftl in.pdf place '1(spin=45:top-left)' output out.pdf

Chain operations (shift then scale)

pdftl in.pdf place '1-5(shift=10,10; scale=0.8)' output out.pdf

Tags: content_modification, geometry

Source: pdftl.operations.place

Read online: https://pdftl.readthedocs.io/en/stable/operations/place.html

Type: Operation