pdfforms 2.0.0

Description:

pdfforms 2.0.0

pdfforms is a small utility for populating fillable pdf forms from a spreadsheet
data source. It was created with the intent of filling US tax forms using
tax data prepared with a spreadsheet, but should be equally applicable to
other forms.

Features

Assigns numeric id for each field
Generates test pdf showing ids of text fields
Merges spreadsheet data into final filled pdf
Works with multiple spreadsheet formats
Can process multiple pdfs at a time
Can be used as a library or CLI
Optional rounding and number formatting



Requirements
pdfforms requires Python 3.5 or higher, pyexcel for data loading, and
pdftk, which does all the real work.


Installation
To install: pip install pdfforms


Documentation
For complete documentation, see https://pdfforms.readthedocs.io/


Example
Let’s say you have a spreadsheet with your tax calculations. You want to
populate your tax forms with the data from the spreadsheet. pdfforms
allows you to do so with the following steps:

First pdfforms must inspect the forms to be filled. pdfforms will
extract a list of fields in each of the specified documents. Each field
is assigned a numeric id, and test documents are generated with filled
forms, showing the id of each text field:
$ pdfforms inspect f1040*.pdf
f1040sse.pdf
f1040sce.pdf
f1040.pdf
The filled test pdfs are stored by default in the test/ subdirectory.

Browse the test pdf files and add the field numbers of the fields you
need to fill to your spreadsheet. pdfforms only reads the first and
third columns of the datafile. The first column should contain the name
of the pdf file with the form to fill and the field numbers. The third
column should contain the data to be written into the field. The rest
of the sheet is ignored, so you can use it for notes, calculations, etc.
pdfforms is case sensitive! The file name in the spreadsheet must match
exactly the name of the pdf to be filled.
Below is an example spreadsheet for a (fictional) 2016
tax return.


f1040.pdf
Form 1040

2016


3
First Name and initial
John Q



4
Last Name
Public



5
SSN
321546789
321-54-6789


6
Spouse’s Name
Susie



7
Spouse’s Last Name
Public



8
SSN
132458697
132-45-8697


9
Address
5776 Winding Ln



11

Springfield, MA



18
Filing status
MJ



24
Exemption - self
1



25
Exemption - spouse
1



27
Dependent name
Timothy Public



28
Dependent ssn
531248680
531-24-8680


29
Dependent relationship
Son



30
Dependent under 17
1



31
Dependent name
Abigail Public



32
Dependent ssn
428775031
428-77-5031


33
Dependent relationship
Daughter



34
Dependent under 17
1



45
Line 6a
2



46
Line 6c
2



49
Line 6d
4



50
Line 7
60,000
salaries


52
Line 8a
124
taxable interest


64
Line 12
15,000
business income


92
Line 22
75,124
total income


102
Line 27
1,060
half SE tax


121
Line 36
1,060



123
Line 37
74,064
Adjusted Gross Income


125
Line 38
74,064



133
Line 40
12,600
Standard Deduction


135
Line 41
61,464



137
Line 42
16,200
Exemptions
$ 4,050

139
Line 43
45,264
Taxable income


145
Line 44
4,528
Tax


151
Line 47
4,528



161
Line 52
2,000
Child Tax Credit


171
Line 55
2,000
Total Credits


173
Line 56
2,528



175
Line 57
2,119
Self-employment tax


196
Line 63
4,647
Total Tax


198
Line 64
8,688
Tax withheld


225
Line 74
8,688
Total Payments


227
Line 75
4,041
Amount you overpaid


230
Line 76a
4,041
Amount you want refunded


232
Line 76b
123654789
Routing Number


234
Line 76c
Savings
Account Type


235
Line 76d
135724
Account Number


247
Occupation
Salesman



248
Daytime phone number
413-555-1212



249
Spouse’s Occupation
Artist









f1040sce.pdf
Schedule C-EZ




0
Name
Susie Public



1
SSN
132-45-8697



9
Line F
2
No


2
Line A
Artist
Principle business or profession


3
Line B
711510
Business Code


13
Line 1
22,000
gross receipts


15
Line 2
7,000
total expenses


17
Line 3
15,000
net profit








f1040sse.pdf
Form SE - Section A Short Schedule SE




0
Name
Susie Public



1
SSN
132-45-8697



6
Line 2
15,000



8
Line 3
15,000
92.35%


10
Line 4
13,853
15.30%


12
Line 5
2,119
50.00%


14
Line 6
1,060





The test pdfs do not show field numbers for checkboxes. Currently the
only way to fill checkboxes is to examine the fields.json file and
find the field number and allowed values of the checkbox.

Once the file name and field numbers have been added to your spreadsheet,
save the spreadsheet as a csv file and fill the forms:
$ pdfforms fill mydata.csv
f1040sse.pdf
f1040sce.pdf
f1040.pdf
The final, populated pdf files are saved by default to the filled/
subdirectory.




Changelog

2.0.0

date:
15 Aug, 2021



Use pyexcel to load spreadsheet data, supports xlsx, ods, csv, and more
Add options to round values, add thousands separators
Split codebase up and publish an API
Make .pdf suffix recognition case-insensitive
Better handling of invalid input
Expanded documentation
General code clean-up, refactoring, linting, and reformatting



1.2.1

date:
3 July, 2020



Don’t crash when subcommand not supplied (Thanks @PiDelport for the PR)



1.2.0

date:
24 September, 2019



Added --no-flatten option to keep form fillable
inspect doesn’t crash if passed a pdf without fillable form



1.1.0

date:
4 July, 2018



Fixed handling of whitespace (Thanks @rohitkhirapate for the bug report)
Added python 3.4 compatibility (Thanks @oneyb for the PR)



1.0.0

date:
1 May, 2017



Initial release