How to Open Your First PDF with PyMuPDF

PyMuPDF is a Python library for working with PDF files. The code below opens an existing PDF so you can read, extract, or modify its contents.

1. Import PyMuPDF

import pymupdf

This imports the PyMuPDF library and makes its PDF tools available in your Python program.

2. Open the PDF

doc = pymupdf.open("data.pdf")

• pymupdf.open() opens the PDF file named data.pdf.
• The returned document is stored in the variable doc, which you can then use to access the PDF's pages and content.

Complete Example

%pip install -q -U pymupdf

from google.colab import files
uploaded = files.upload()

import pymupdf
doc = pymupdf.open("data.pdf")

In short: import pymupdf loads the library, while pymupdf.open("data.pdf") opens the PDF and stores it in doc for further processing.

Note: Make sure the pymupdf package is installed and the PDF file (data.pdf) is uploaded to your Google Colab environment before running the following code.

-Want to learn how to install the pymupdf package in Google Colab?
Check out this mini-guide: How to Install PyMuPDF in Google Colab.

-Want to learn how to upload your PDF file in Google Colab?
Check out this mini-guide: Uploading Files in Google Colab.

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Open the notebook

Open the Google Colab notebook for this PDF mini-guide and run the code as you follow along.

[Open in Google Colab]

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This mini-guide was originally published on PDF Python Hub, where you can find more in-depth Python resources for working with PDFs.