What is PDFsam Basic?
PDFsam Basic is a desktop application for reorganizing PDF documents. It can split files, merge documents, mix pages, rotate pages and extract selected pages, making it relevant to document preparation tasks that involve changing how PDF pages are assembled. The README describes it as free and open source, multi-platform software, and the website lists it for Windows, macOS and Linux, with no sign-up and no Internet connection required, and says it has been available since 2006.
The application is written using JavaFX. Since version 4 it is released as a self-contained application that bundles a jlinked JDK, while version 3 requires a Java Runtime Environment 8 with JavaFx installed. Since version 3 the source code is open source under the GNU Affero General Public License, and previous versions are released under GPLv2. The repository points to documentation, FAQs, build instructions and configuration options. The website says it works entirely on your computer, with no file uploads, no watermarks and no file size limit.
PDFsam also has two commercial siblings on the same site. PDFsam Visual adds more than 25 tools and is free to try for 14 days with no sign-up, then needs a license. PDFsam Enhanced is a complete PDF editor for Windows that is free to view and create PDFs with registration, and a yearly subscription is needed for the full editor.
Key capabilities
- Split Divide PDF files into separate documents.
- Merge Combine several PDFs into one.
- Mix Interleave pages from different PDF files.
- Rotate Change the orientation of pages.
- Extract Pull selected pages into a new file.
- Self-contained app Bundles its own JDK, with no watermarks or file size limit.
Where PDFsam Basic fits
- Merge Combine PDFs with page selection, merging bookmarks and interactive forms.
- Split Split a PDF at given page numbers, at given bookmark levels or into files of a given size.
- Extract Keep only the pages you need and save them as a new PDF file.
- Rotate Rotate every page or just the selected pages.
- Mix Take pages alternately from two files, useful with a single-sided scanner.
- Offline operation Works on your computer with no file uploads, watermarks or file size limit.
- File naming Customize resulting file names with a keyword replacement mechanism.
- Deployment Documented silent installation on Windows machines.
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