Flutter

Every class, option and method: Flutter API reference.

1. Add the pluginCopy Anchor Link

The plugin comes with your license, as a folder or a Git repository. Add it to pubspec.yaml, and turn on Swift Package Manager for iOS — PDF-SDK ships as a Swift package only, never through CocoaPods:

# pubspec.yaml
dependencies:
  pdf_editor:
    path: vendor/pdf_editor   # the plugin folder that comes with your license
    # or, from Git:  git: { url: <the plugin URL that comes with your license> }

flutter:
  config:
    enable-swift-package-manager: true

Swift Package Manager can also be switched on for every project on your machine with flutter config --enable-swift-package-manager. See Flutter's Swift Package Manager guide.

On iOS the plugin fetches the PDF-SDK Swift package itself, from the same package URL as the iOS guide; there's nothing to add in Xcode. If that URL is a private repository, sign in to it once in Xcode (Settings ▸ Accounts) so the build can fetch it.

Android: where the SDK comes fromCopy Anchor Link

Gradle doesn't let a plugin add a repository to your app, so add the Maven repository that comes with your license, and set the minimum SDK to 26:

// android/build.gradle.kts
allprojects {
    repositories {
        google(); mavenCentral()
        maven { url = uri("${rootDir}/../vendor/pdfsdk/maven") }   // the unzipped bundle, or your registry URL
    }
}

// android/app/build.gradle.kts
android {
    defaultConfig { minSdk = 26 }
}

2. Set your license keyCopy Anchor Link

Once, before the first editor — main() is the natural place. The key lists your app's iOS bundle identifier and Android package name.

import 'package:flutter/widgets.dart';
import 'package:pdf_editor/pdf_editor.dart';

Future<void> main() async {
  WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();
  final license = await PdfEditor.setLicenseKey('PE1.eyJ2Ijox…');
  if (!license.isLicensed) debugPrint('PDF-SDK: ${license.reason}');
  runApp(const MyApp());
}

3. Open the editorCopy Anchor Link

Give it a PDF on disk. It resolves with the path of the edited file, or null if the user closed without saving.

final String? edited = await PdfEditor.open(
  path: file.path,
  mode: PdfEditorMode.annotate,            // optional: the mode to open in
  tool: PdfEditorTool.highlight,           // optional: a tool to arm
);
if (edited != null) {
  final bytes = await File(edited).readAsBytes();
  await upload(bytes);
}

The result is a new file in the temporary directory, yours to move or delete. Pass inPlace: true to overwrite path instead. A file path rather than bytes, because a real document is far larger than a platform channel or an Android Intent should carry.

Opening fails with a PlatformException whose code is bad_args, not_found, already_open, no_activity, write_failed (the edited file couldn't be written) or, on Android, unsupported (a device without arm64-v8a). A user simply closing the editor is not an error.

4. Customize the editorCopy Anchor Link

Pass a PdfEditorConfiguration. Leave a field out and the editor keeps its own behaviour. The options narrow, rename or restyle what the editor offers — fonts also adds your own — and out-of-range values are clamped.

final edited = await PdfEditor.open(
  path: file.path,
  configuration: const PdfEditorConfiguration(
    modes: [PdfEditorMode.annotate, PdfEditorMode.fillAndSign],
    colorScheme: PdfEditorColorScheme.dark,
    hiddenTools: {PdfEditorTool.stamp},
    hiddenMenuItems: {PdfEditorMenuItem.print},
    toolTitles: {PdfEditorTool.signature: 'Approve'},
    modeTitles: {PdfEditorMode.fillAndSign: 'Sign'},
    selectionColor: Color(0xFFFF2D55),
    handleShape: PdfEditorHandleShape.circle,
    toolDefaults: PdfEditorToolDefaults(
      highlight: PdfEditorMarkupStyle(color: Color(0xFF00C853), opacity: 0.4),
    ),
    minZoom: 1,
    maxZoom: 2,
  ),
);

Every option, with what it does: PdfEditorConfiguration in the Flutter API reference. The names and meanings are the native ones (iOS, Android). Custom icons and your own toolbar buttons need images and callbacks, which a platform channel can't carry, so they stay native-only.

Edit documents from codeCopy Anchor Link

Everything a user can do in the editor can be done from code, with no UI: read every layer of a page and its properties, replace text in any script (the layer keeps its font, size, colour and position, and the system's fonts fill in letters its font lacks), restyle, move, resize, rotate and restack layers, add text, images and shapes, mark text up, fill and author forms, edit metadata and pages, search, render a page, and save. Every method: PdfDocument in the API reference.

A layer is addressed by its page and an id that keeps naming it while other layers change. Geometry is in page points from the page's top-left corner. Each change is one undo step.

final doc = await PdfDocument.open(bytes);
for (final block in await doc.textBlocks(0)) {
  final text = await translate(block.text ?? '');
  await doc.setText(block, text, shrinkToFit: true);
}
final Uint8List edited = await doc.save();
await doc.close();

Pass onDocumentReady to PdfEditor.open to get the document the editor is showing: changes appear on screen at once and the user can undo them. It stops working when the editor closes.

await PdfEditor.open(path: file.path, onDocumentReady: (doc) async {
  await doc.addText('Approved', 0, 40, 120);
});

Failures throw PdfDocumentException with a code: notFound (read the layers again), unsupportedGlyphs, failed, badArguments or cannotOpen.

Localize the editorCopy Anchor Link

Every word the editor shows has a stable key, the same on every platform, with English as its built-in text. Give text for the keys you want translated; the rest stay English. The editor checks a dictionary first, then the app's own translations (iOS PDFEditor.strings, Android pe_<key> resources) in its current language, then English. Right-to-left languages mirror the editor; the page navigator stays left to right, like the pages it turns.

await PdfEditor.open(
  path: file.path,
  configuration: PdfEditorConfiguration(
    localization: PdfEditorLocalization(language: 'hi', strings: {'cancel': 'रद्द करें'}),
  ),
);

Placeholders are positional (Page {1} of {2}), so a translation can reorder them. A count has two keys: <key>_one and <key>. Names you set per tool, mode or menu item win over translations.

Version and supportCopy Anchor Link

final version = await PdfEditor.nativeVersion();   // log it next to your build number
final ok = await PdfEditor.isSupported();          // false only for an ABI the app shipped without

TroubleshootingCopy Anchor Link