Adobe PDF Services SDK for Python

4.2.0 · active · verified Fri Apr 17

Adobe PDF Services SDK for Python provides client libraries to interact with Adobe Document Cloud PDF Services APIs. It enables developers to programmatically perform operations like PDF creation, export, compression, OCR, document generation, and more. The current version is 4.2.0. Releases are typically infrequent, corresponding to updates in the underlying Adobe API services.

Common errors

```
AttributeError: module 'pdfservices_sdk.sdk_config' has no attribute 'SDKConfig'
```
cause Attempting to use the deprecated `SDKConfig` class from a pre-v4.x SDK version with a v4.x or later installation.

fix Replace `SDKConfig` with `PdfServicesConfig`. Example: `from pdfservices_sdk.pdf_services_config import PdfServicesConfig`.
```
AttributeError: type object 'ServicePrincipalCredentials' has no attribute 'file_based_credentials_builder'
```
cause Attempting to use the old file-based credentials builder method from `ServicePrincipalCredentials` (deprecated in v4.x) for file-based authentication.

fix Use `AdobeAuthCredentials.file_based_credentials_builder()` instead. Example: `from pdfservices_sdk.auth.credentials import AdobeAuthCredentials; credentials = AdobeAuthCredentials.file_based_credentials_builder().with_credentials_path(...).build()`.
```
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'pdfservices-api-credentials.json'
```
cause The SDK cannot find your `credentials.json` file at the specified path, or the path is incorrect.

fix Verify the path to your `credentials.json` file. Ensure it exists and has read permissions. Consider setting it via an environment variable `PDF_SERVICES_SDK_CLIENT_CREDENTIALS_PATH` for consistent access.
```
pdfservices_sdk.exceptions.ServiceApiException: Error occurred while executing the API.
```
cause A general error from the Adobe PDF Services API. This often indicates issues with authentication (invalid credentials), malformed input files, or exceeding service limits.

fix Check your `credentials.json` for correctness. Examine the input file for any corruption or unsupported formats. Review the full exception details for more specific error codes or messages from the API. Implement robust retry mechanisms for transient errors.

Warnings

breaking Major API changes in version 4.0.0 related to SDK configuration. The `SDKConfig` class has been replaced by `PdfServicesConfig`.
Fix: Update all instances of `SDKConfig` to `PdfServicesConfig` and ensure `PdfServiceClient` is built with `with_pdf_services_config` instead of `with_sdk_config`.
breaking File-based authentication for `ServicePrincipalCredentials` was refactored in v4.x. You must now use `AdobeAuthCredentials.file_based_credentials_builder()` instead of `ServicePrincipalCredentials.file_based_credentials_builder()`.
Fix: Replace `ServicePrincipalCredentials` with `AdobeAuthCredentials` for file-based authentication setup. The `credentials.json` file structure remains the same.
gotcha All API calls require valid `credentials.json` with `client_id`, `client_secret`, and `organization_id`.
Fix: Ensure your `credentials.json` file is correctly formatted and accessible via the specified path (or environment variable). Obtain credentials from the Adobe Developer Console.
gotcha Input and output files are handled using `FileRef` objects. For local files, ensure the paths are correct and the SDK has read/write permissions.
Fix: Always use `FileRef.from_local_file()` for inputs and `FileRef.save_as_file()` for outputs. Ensure proper error handling for file operations.

Install

pip install pdfservices-sdk Install latest version

Imports

PdfServiceClient

from pdfservices_sdk.pdf_services_client import PdfServiceClient

PdfServicesConfig
wrong:
```
from pdfservices_sdk.sdk_config import SDKConfig
```
correct:
```
from pdfservices_sdk.pdf_services_config import PdfServicesConfig
```
SDKConfig was deprecated and removed in v4.x, replaced by PdfServicesConfig for SDK configuration.
AdobeAuthCredentials
wrong:
```
from pdfservices_sdk.auth.credentials import ServicePrincipalCredentials
```
correct:
```
from pdfservices_sdk.auth.credentials import AdobeAuthCredentials
```
For file-based credentials, AdobeAuthCredentials is the correct class in v4.x. While ServicePrincipalCredentials still exists for JWT authentication, its 'file_based_credentials_builder' method was removed for file-based auth in v4.x.

FileRef

from pdfservices_sdk.io.file_ref import FileRef

CreatePdfFromHtmlJob

from pdfservices_sdk.jobs.createpdf.create_pdf_from_html_job import CreatePdfFromHtmlJob

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to initialize the PDF Services client, authenticate using file-based credentials, and convert a simple HTML string to a PDF document. It highlights the use of `AdobeAuthCredentials` and `PdfServicesConfig` for setup, and `FileRef` for handling input/output files.

import os
from pdfservices_sdk.pdf_services_client import PdfServiceClient
from pdfservices_sdk.pdf_services_config import PdfServicesConfig
from pdfservices_sdk.auth.credentials import AdobeAuthCredentials
from pdfservices_sdk.io.file_ref import FileRef
from pdfservices_sdk.jobs.createpdf.create_pdf_from_html_job import CreatePdfFromHtmlJob

# Ensure you have your credentials.json file path set as an environment variable
# Or provide the path directly: credentials_path = "./pdfservices-api-credentials.json"
credentials_path = os.environ.get("PDF_SERVICES_SDK_CLIENT_CREDENTIALS_PATH", "./pdfservices-api-credentials.json")

# Create a dummy HTML file for conversion
dummy_html_content = "<h1>Hello from Adobe PDF Services!</h1><p>This is a test.</p>"
with open("input.html", "w") as f:
    f.write(dummy_html_content)

try:
    # 1. Build AdobeAuthCredentials using a file-based builder.
    #    Ensure credentials.json has 'client_id', 'client_secret', and 'organization_id'.
    credentials = AdobeAuthCredentials.file_based_credentials_builder()\
        .with_credentials_path(credentials_path).build()

    # 2. Build PdfServicesConfig with the created credentials.
    pdf_services_config = PdfServicesConfig.builder().with_credentials(credentials).build()

    # 3. Create a PdfServiceClient.
    pdf_service_client = PdfServiceClient.builder().with_pdf_services_config(pdf_services_config).build()

    # 4. Create an input FileRef from the HTML file.
    input_file_ref = FileRef.from_local_file("input.html")

    # 5. Create a CreatePdfFromHtmlJob instance.
    create_pdf_from_html_job = CreatePdfFromHtmlJob(input_file_ref)

    # 6. Execute the job and get the output FileRef.
    result_file_ref = pdf_service_client.execute(create_pdf_from_html_job)

    # 7. Save the result to a local file.
    output_path = "output.pdf"
    result_file_ref.save_as_file(output_path)
    print(f"Successfully created PDF: {output_path}")

except Exception as e:
    print(f"An error occurred: {e}")
finally:
    # Clean up dummy files
    if os.path.exists("input.html"):
        os.remove("input.html")
    # if os.path.exists("output.pdf"):
    #     os.remove("output.pdf") # Uncomment to remove generated PDF after successful run

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