PDF Merger - Web Application

A modern, user-friendly web application to merge multiple PDF files into a single document. Features a clean drag-and-drop interface with file reordering capabilities.

Features

• 📁 Drag & Drop Upload: Simply drag PDF files onto the upload area
• 🔄 Reorder Files: Drag files in the list to change merge order
• 📱 Responsive Design: Works on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices
• 🔒 Secure: Files are processed server-side and deleted immediately after download
• 💨 Fast: Efficient PDF processing with no watermarks
• 🆓 100% Free: No registration, no hidden fees

Tech Stack

• Backend: Python 3.8+, Flask
• PDF Processing: PyPDF
• Frontend: HTML5, CSS3, Vanilla JavaScript
• Production Server: Gunicorn (Linux/Mac) or Waitress (Windows)

Project Structure

mergepdf/
├── app.py                 # Flask application
├── requirements.txt       # Python dependencies
├── README.md             # This file
├── templates/
│   └── index.html        # Main HTML template
└── static/
    ├── css/
    │   └── style.css     # Stylesheet
    └── js/
        └── app.js        # Frontend JavaScript

Local Development

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8 or higher
• pip (Python package manager)

Setup

1. Clone or navigate to the project directory:

   cd mergepdf

2. Create a virtual environment (recommended):

   # Windows
   python -m venv venv
   venv\Scripts\activate
   
   # Linux/Mac
   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Run the development server:

   python app.py

5. Open your browser and navigate to:

   http://localhost:5000
   

Deployment Options

Option 1: Deploy to Render (Free Tier Available)

1. Create a render.yaml file in your project root:

   services:
     - type: web
       name: pdf-merger
       env: python
       buildCommand: pip install -r requirements.txt
       startCommand: gunicorn app:app
       envVars:
         - key: PYTHON_VERSION
           value: 3.11.0

2. Push to GitHub and connect to Render

3. Create a new Web Service and select your repository

Option 2: Deploy to Railway

1. Push your code to GitHub

2. Go to Railway and create a new project

3. Select "Deploy from GitHub repo"

4. Railway will auto-detect Python and deploy

Option 3: Deploy to Heroku

1. Create a Procfile:

   web: gunicorn app:app
   

2. Create a runtime.txt:

   python-3.11.0
   

3. Deploy using Heroku CLI:

   heroku create your-app-name
   git push heroku main

Option 4: Deploy to a VPS (DigitalOcean, AWS, etc.)

1. SSH into your server

2. Install Python and pip:

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install python3 python3-pip python3-venv nginx

3. Clone your project:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/pdf-merger.git
   cd pdf-merger

4. Set up virtual environment:

   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate
   pip install -r requirements.txt

5. Create a systemd service (/etc/systemd/system/pdfmerger.service):

   [Unit]
   Description=PDF Merger Web App
   After=network.target
   
   [Service]
   User=www-data
   WorkingDirectory=/path/to/pdf-merger
   Environment="PATH=/path/to/pdf-merger/venv/bin"
   ExecStart=/path/to/pdf-merger/venv/bin/gunicorn --workers 3 --bind unix:pdfmerger.sock -m 007 app:app
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target

6. Configure Nginx (/etc/nginx/sites-available/pdfmerger):

   server {
       listen 80;
       server_name yourdomain.com;
   
       client_max_body_size 50M;
   
       location / {
           include proxy_params;
           proxy_pass http://unix:/path/to/pdf-merger/pdfmerger.sock;
       }
   }

7. Enable and start services:

   sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/pdfmerger /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
   sudo systemctl start pdfmerger
   sudo systemctl enable pdfmerger
   sudo systemctl restart nginx

Option 5: Deploy with Docker

1. Create a Dockerfile:

   FROM python:3.11-slim
   
   WORKDIR /app
   
   COPY requirements.txt .
   RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
   
   COPY . .
   
   EXPOSE 5000
   
   CMD ["gunicorn", "--bind", "0.0.0.0:5000", "app:app"]

2. Create a .dockerignore:

   __pycache__
   *.pyc
   venv
   .git
   *.pdf
   

3. Build and run:

   docker build -t pdf-merger .
   docker run -p 5000:5000 pdf-merger

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
MAX_CONTENT_LENGTH	Maximum upload size in bytes	50MB
SECRET_KEY	Flask secret key (set in production)	None

Production Considerations

1. Set a secret key in production:

   app.config['SECRET_KEY'] = os.environ.get('SECRET_KEY', 'your-secret-key')

2. Use HTTPS in production (configure via reverse proxy)

3. Set appropriate CORS headers if needed

4. Consider rate limiting for public deployments

API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/	Main web interface
POST	/merge	Upload and merge PDF files
GET	/download/<session_id>/<filename>	Download merged PDF

POST /merge

Request: multipart/form-data with files[] containing PDF files

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "PDFs merged successfully!",
  "session_id": "uuid",
  "filename": "merged_20241210_123456.pdf",
  "total_pages": 10,
  "file_size": 524288,
  "files_merged": 3
}

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature-name
3. Commit changes: git commit -am 'Add feature'
4. Push to branch: git push origin feature-name
5. Submit a Pull Request

License

MIT License - feel free to use this project for personal or commercial purposes.

Support

If you encounter any issues or have suggestions, please open an issue on GitHub.

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