- What is pdfsam?
- What license?
- Why two versions?
- So do I have to pay for the enhanced version?
- Why should i donate?
- How to get the enhanced version
- I want to donate through SourceForge
- Language?
- Noo… i meant human language!
- Some more detail?
- How to run the main GUI?
- Still trouble?
- What is the console?
- How to run the console?
- Why a console?
- Cannot find javaw.exe
What is pdfsam?
PDF Split and Merge is a very simple, easy to use, free, open source, desktop utility to split and merge pdf files. It’s released in two versions, basic and enhanced, and it includes a command-line and a graphical interface.
What license?
PDF Split and Merge is released under the GNU General Public License, version 2 (GPLv2)
Why two versions?
Basic version is very simple and stable, completely free and it will usually covers most of your needs (split, merge, rotate).
Enhanced version is open source and has additional features compared to the basic version. It’s “almost” free, you can download the source code, compile and use it or, if you think it’s worth, you can make a donation of any amount to get it.
So… do I have to pay to get the enhanced version?
Yes and no. Enhanced version has no fixed price, the source code can be freely downloaded therefore you can compile it and use it. With a single donation of any amount (1€, 10€, 100€, as much as you wish) you’ll gain unlimited access to the compiled code (Zip bundle, Windows installer and Mac OSX dmg), plus the access to the support forums.
Why should I donate?
By donating you provide support to an open source project. There’s no big company behind this project, just me and my spare time. I’ve been working on pdfsam for more than six years now. I believe in open source and I believe pdfsam is a valuable and useful software. If you think my efforts and pdfsam are not worth 1€ …well.. just download the source code, compile it and use it. If you believe in open source, in shared culture and you think pdfsam is useful, donate and you’ll have pdfsam enhanced and all the related benefits. The donated money will be used to take care of pdfsam and its users, to make it better and better and to add the features you request. Therefore you are not paying for a software but you are supporting open source and free culture.
How to get the enhanced version
To download the enhanced version you need a forum account (register here). With a donation of at least 1€ here you’ll be able to download the enhanced version here.
I want to donate through SourceForge
Perfect, just remember to add your forum username in the donation comment otherwise I wont be able to know who you are on pdfsam forum and grant you access to the enhanced version.
Language?
pdfsam is written in Java.
Noo… I meant human language!
ohh.. sorry 
… yes, pdfsam supports multilanguage and you preferred language can be set in the Settigs section. Language library is updated at every release with the latest translations available, check here if you want to translate pdfsam.
Some more detail?
pdfsam is basically a Graphical interface to the iText library. It’s made of some components.
- A main GUI written in Java Swing
- A merge plugin to merge pdf documents, written in Java Swing
- A split plugin to split pdf documents, written in Java Swing
- An alternate mix plugin to mix two pdf documents, written in Java Swing
- A rotate plugin to rotate pdf documents written, in Java Swing
- Two visual plugins to visually modify pdf documents, both written in Java Swing
- A command line interface written in Java
The main GUI loads every plugin in “plugins” directory and shows them as node of a selection tree. A plugin sends a list of arguments to the console that executes the proper command.
How to run the main GUI?
Double click the file pdfsam-CURRENT_VERSION.jar or type java -jar /PATH_TO_PDFSAM/pdfsam-CURRENT_VERSION.jar
Still trouble?
Check you have installed a working Java Virtual Machine 1.6 or higher. Check the provided tutorial into the “doc” subdirectory. Take a look at the Wiki or the Forum.
What is the pdfsam.console?
pdfsam-console is a command line iterface where you can supply arguments and options and it performs the proper commad (split, merge..).
How to run the console?
in “bin” subdirectory there’s a bat script for Windows systems and a sh script *nix systems.
Why a console?
A command line console could be useful for batch jobs, server jobs…
Cannot find javaw.exe
If, when you double click the pdfsam-starter.exe, an error window shows the message “Cannot find javaw.exe”, it means that a working Java installation couldn’t be found. To solve this problem try installing (or reinstalling) a working Java Runtime Environment version 1.6 or above.
