Metadata¶

The PDF specification contain two types of metadata, the newer XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform, XML-based) and older DocumentInformation dictionary. The PDF 2.0 specification removes the DocumentInformation dictionary.

Currently, the following methods on fpdf.FPDF allow to set metadata information in the DocumentInformation dictionary:

• set_title
• set_lang
• set_subject
• set_author
• set_keywords
• set_producer
• set_creator
• set_creation_date
• set_xmp_metadata, that requires you to craft the necessary XML string

For a more user-friendly API to set metadata, we recommend using pikepdf that will set both XMP & DocumentInformation metadata:

import sys
from datetime import datetime

import pikepdf
from fpdf import FPDF_VERSION

with pikepdf.open(sys.argv[1], allow_overwriting_input=True) as pdf:
    with pdf.open_metadata(set_pikepdf_as_editor=False) as meta:
        meta["dc:title"] = "Title"
        meta["dc:description"] = "Description"
        meta["dc:creator"] = ["Author1", "Author2"]
        meta["pdf:Keywords"] = "keyword1 keyword2 keyword3"
        meta["pdf:Producer"] = f"py-pdf/fpdf{FPDF_VERSION}"
        meta["xmp:CreatorTool"] = __file__
        meta["xmp:MetadataDate"] = datetime.now(datetime.utcnow().astimezone().tzinfo).isoformat()
    pdf.save()