iText Homepage
NEWS
July 7, 2009: release of iText 2.1.7

Read more about iText in Action, the first and only book about iText:
Download two free chapters! Buy the eBook.

Try the iText Java Web Start application!
Project description
iText is a library that allows you to generate PDF files on the fly.

iText is an ideal library for developers looking to enhance web- and other applications with dynamic PDF document generation and/or manipulation. iText is not an end-user tool. Typically you won't use it on your Desktop as you would use Acrobat or any other PDF application. Rather, you'll build iText into your own applications so that you can automate the PDF creation and manipulation process. For instance in one or more of the following situations: You can use iText to: In short: the iText classes are very useful for people who need to generate read-only, platform independent documents containing text, lists, tables and images; or who want to perform specific manipulations on existing PDF documents. The library is especially useful in combination with Java(TM) technology-based Servlets; there's also a .NET port available: iTextSharp (written in C#).

iText requires JDK 1.4. It's available for free under a multiple license: MPL and LGPL.
iText in Action
The book on iText 'iText in Action' can be bought at Manning.com, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.at, Amazon.fr, and Amazon.co.jp.
You can find an overview of the book reviews at 1T3XT.com.
Technical Requirements
If you want to use the iText classes you should be acquainted with JAVA (TM) programming.
You'll also need the following Software:
Getting started with iText
There are five places that are extremely important if you want to work with iText.
  1. The first is the book page. If you own the book, you get access to hundreds of examples, and you'll save a lot of time finding your way in the library by using the book as your tutorial.
  2. There's also a free tutorial that was written before the book. Not all functionality available in iText is explained, but it's a good place to start. If you click on one of the features in the overview, you get some explanation and some examples on how to use these features. There's also the Javadoc pages for more detail on every method (again: not every method is documented, but we're working on it).
  3. After the book was written, some special examples were compiled in the iText Wiki. They can also serve as an introduction to the library.
  4. If the examples don't work or you experience some typical newbie problems, please consult the Frequently Asked Questions page.
  5. If you need something that isn't on the feature list, please check the mailing-list archives. Lots of features are yet to be documented, but most of the iText functionality has been commented in the mailing-list. If you have a problem that has not been dealt with yet (or that should be in the FAQ), you can post it to the mailing-list. But it's always a good idea to check archives first.
Searching the net and the different iText sites
Google
Web www.lowagie.com
itextdocs.lowagie.com itextpdf.sourceforge.net
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iText, the #1 Java-PDF library
Amazon books: amazon.co.uk-link