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

• 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

• 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

• 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...)

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

• 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 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

• 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)

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

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

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Search for "PDF Forge"
4. Click Install

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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
}

• 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

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

1. 100% Offline: All processing happens locally. No API calls.
2. Bundled Libraries: pdf.js, Tesseract.js, highlight.js included.
3. Smart Detection: Code blocks detected by font, indentation, and patterns.
4. Git Integration: Optionally auto-commit exports to your repo.

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

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

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.

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details.

Contributions welcome! Please read our contributing guidelines.

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

Published by babyfox1306 on:

• VS Code Marketplace
• Open VSX

Report issues on GitHub.

PDF FORGE – BUILT ONCE. CODE FOREVER.