PDF Forge

All-in-one PDF toolkit for developers: view, extract code & tables, convert to Markdown, highlight, note, compare — 100% offline, no AI, one .vsix forever.

Features

📖 PDF Viewer (15 features)

Open PDFs with pdf.js renderer
Zoom, Fit Page/Width controls
Previous/Next/Jump to page
Dark mode (syncs with VS Code theme)
Auto-reload on file changes
Large file support (>200MB)
Fixed toolbar with quick actions

📝 Text Layer & Search (12 features)

Selectable text overlay
Split view: PDF ↔ Text side-by-side
Copy text (selection or full page)
Full-text search with regex support
Highlight search results with jump navigation
Search history persistence
Command Palette quick search
Export text to .txt, .md, .json

💻 Code Intelligence (10 features)

Auto-detect code blocks (fonts, patterns, indentation)
Syntax highlighting for 50+ languages
Deduplicate identical code blocks
Auto-detect language + rename extracted files
Copy 1 click / Export to .py, .js, etc.
Merge all code blocks into 1 master file
Monaco mini-panel preview
Extract terminal commands ($ pip install...)

📊 Table & Data (3 features)

Extract tables to CSV/JSON
Auto-open CSV in VS Code
Preserve table structure

🔄 Conversion Engine (6 features)

PDF → Markdown (preserves headings, lists, tables, code)
PDF → Plain text
Markdown → PDF (using md-to-pdf)
Auto-create ./pdf-forge-exports/[filename]/ structure
Auto-open exported files
Markdown with metadata (title, pages, source)

✏️ Highlight, Notes & Bookmarks (8 features)

Highlight text with color picker
Note popup/panel UI
Persist to .notes.json with coordinates
Display note overlay on PDF
Edit/delete notes
Export notes to Markdown
Page bookmarks (Ctrl+Click)
Sidebar bookmarks tab

🚀 Pro Features (6 features)

Diff Mode: Compare 2 PDFs (text diff, page count)
OCR: Tesseract.js integration (toggle on/off)
Metadata Inspector: Author, Date, Encryption, Fonts
Smart Copy: Copy with citation // From: file.pdf (p.42)

📤 Export System (8 features)

Unified export folder structure
Quick Export Panel (floating UI)
Open export folder 1 click
Backup old exports before overwrite
Git auto-commit (optional)

⚙️ Configuration (7 features)

Settings: autoReload, defaultFormat, highlightColor, maxFileSize, enableOcr, autoDedupe
Debug log panel
Cross-platform (Windows/macOS/Linux)
100% offline (all libs bundled)
Zero runtime dependencies

Installation

From VS Code Marketplace

Open VS Code
Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
Search for "PDF Forge"
Click Install

From .vsix file

code --install-extension pdf-forge-1.0.0.vsix

Usage

Open a PDF

Right-click any .pdf file in Explorer
Select "Open With..." → "PDF Forge Viewer"
Or use Command Palette: PDF Forge: Open PDF

Extract Text

Ctrl+Alt+X: Extract all text
Or: Command Palette → PDF Forge: Extract All Text

Export to Markdown

Ctrl+Alt+E: Export to Markdown
Or: Command Palette → PDF Forge: Export to Markdown

Copy All Code Blocks

Ctrl+Alt+C: Copy all detected code blocks
Or: Command Palette → PDF Forge: Copy All Code

Search in PDF

Ctrl+Alt+F: Search with regex support
Or: Command Palette → PDF Forge: Search in PDF

Toggle Split View

Ctrl+Alt+S: Show/hide text side-by-side
Or: Command Palette → PDF Forge: Toggle Split View

Zoom

Ctrl+Alt+Z: Quick zoom menu
Or: Click +/- buttons in toolbar

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Command
`Ctrl+Alt+Z`	Zoom
`Ctrl+Alt+X`	Extract Text
`Ctrl+Alt+C`	Copy Code
`Ctrl+Alt+E`	Export
`Ctrl+Alt+S`	Split View
`Ctrl+Alt+F`	Search

Commands

All commands are accessible via Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P):

PDF Forge: Open PDF - Open a PDF file
PDF Forge: Extract All Text - Extract all text to clipboard
PDF Forge: Export to Markdown - Convert PDF to Markdown
PDF Forge: Copy All Code - Copy all detected code blocks
PDF Forge: Export Notes - Export annotations to Markdown
PDF Forge: Compare PDFs - Compare two PDF files
PDF Forge: Toggle OCR - Enable/disable OCR mode
PDF Forge: Clear Cache - Clear extension cache
PDF Forge: Open Export Folder - Open exports directory
PDF Forge: Extract Tables - Extract tables to CSV/JSON
PDF Forge: Deduplicate Code - Remove duplicate code blocks
PDF Forge: Toggle Split View - Show/hide split view
PDF Forge: Jump to Page - Navigate to specific page
PDF Forge: Search in PDF - Search with regex
PDF Forge: Show Metadata - Display PDF information

Configuration

Add to your settings.json:

{
  "pdf-forge.autoReload": true,
  "pdf-forge.defaultFormat": "markdown",
  "pdf-forge.highlightColor": "#FFEB3B",
  "pdf-forge.maxFileSize": 200,
  "pdf-forge.enableOcr": false,
  "pdf-forge.autoDedupe": true
}

Settings

pdf-forge.autoReload (boolean, default: true) - Automatically reload PDF when file changes
pdf-forge.defaultFormat (string, default: markdown) - Default export format: markdown, text, or json
pdf-forge.highlightColor (string, default: #FFEB3B) - Default highlight color (hex format)
pdf-forge.maxFileSize (number, default: 200) - Maximum file size in MB (0 = unlimited)
pdf-forge.enableOcr (boolean, default: false) - Enable OCR for scanned PDFs (uses Tesseract.js)
pdf-forge.autoDedupe (boolean, default: true) - Automatically deduplicate code blocks during extraction

Export Structure

All exports are saved to:

./pdf-forge-exports/
  └── [filename]/
      ├── text.txt
      ├── document.md
      ├── code-blocks/
      │   ├── code-block-1.py
      │   ├── code-block-2.js
      │   └── merged-code-all.md
      ├── tables/
      │   ├── table-1.csv
      │   └── table-2.json
      ├── notes.md
      └── metadata.json

How It Works

100% Offline: All processing happens locally. No API calls.
Bundled Libraries: pdf.js, Tesseract.js, highlight.js included.
Smart Detection: Code blocks detected by font, indentation, and patterns.
Git Integration: Optionally auto-commit exports to your repo.

Requirements

VS Code 1.80.0 or higher
Node.js 18+ (for development)
100MB+ disk space (with bundled libraries)

Limitations

PDF editing not supported (view-only)
OCR accuracy depends on image quality
Large files (>500MB) may be slow

FAQ

Q: Is this extension free?
A: Yes, 100% free and open source.

Q: Does it require internet?
A: No, everything works offline.

Q: Can I edit PDFs?
A: No, this is a viewer/extractor only.

Q: How do I extract code from a PDF?
A: Just open the PDF, the extension auto-detects code blocks.

Q: Can I export to other formats?
A: Currently supports Markdown, Plain Text, and JSON.

Q: Is OCR accurate?
A: Depends on image quality. Best for high-resolution scans.

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please read our contributing guidelines.

Credits

pdf.js - Mozilla (PDF rendering)
Tesseract.js - OCR engine
highlight.js - Syntax highlighting
diff-match-patch - Text diffing

Publisher

Published by babyfox1306 on:

Support

Report issues on GitHub.

PDF FORGE – BUILT ONCE. CODE FOREVER.