PDF Attachments: Extract, Add, Remove
See what a PDF carries inside it — and take files out, put files in or throw them away.
Try before you buy.
- Free preview: the whole list of embedded files, each one saveable to your device, and the first pages of the changed PDF (up to 3) as watermarked page images.
- Locked until you unlock it: download.
- Unlock: Pro pass, ₹179 for 30 days, a one-time payment that never renews.
Ways to unlock shows how to get the full result.
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Files inside this PDF
Attach files
Save the changed PDF
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About the PDF Attachments: Extract, Add, Remove
A PDF can carry whole files inside it: a spreadsheet behind a report, the original drawing behind a plan, the machine-readable XML of an e-invoice, or a whole set of files in a portfolio. They are easy to miss, because most readers hide them in a side panel — and a file you cannot see is a file you cannot check before you pass the PDF on.
This tool lists every embedded file it finds: the document’s own attachment list, files pinned to a page with a file-attachment annotation, and the contents of a portfolio. For each one you get the name, the size, its type, the description and the dates the PDF recorded, and whether the file is declared as an associated file (what PDF/A-3 and ZUGFeRD need). You can save any of them to your device, attach new files with a description and a relationship, and remove the ones that should not travel with the document. The pages themselves are never rewritten, and nothing is uploaded.
How to use it
- Choose the PDF (drag it onto the box, or press Choose a PDF). Everything it carries is listed at once.
- Press Save to my device next to a file to write it out exactly as it is stored — that is your own file, so it is never locked. An e-invoice XML also offers Read it as an invoice, which opens it in the E-Invoice Viewer.
- To attach something, choose the files under Attach files, give them a description and the relationship that says what they are to the document (ZUGFeRD and Factur-X invoice XML is Alternative), and press Attach.
- Tick the files you want gone under Remove. A file pinned to a page takes its paperclip annotation with it.
- Press Save PDF: without a pass the page shows a free preview of the changed file — its first pages as watermarked images — and the download stays locked; with a Pro pass you get the clean file at once.
Examples
Rechnung.pdf from a German supplier
1 file in the attachment list: factur-x.xml · XML · 12.4 KB · relationship Alternative · an associated file. “Read it as an invoice” opens it in the E-Invoice Viewer; “Save to my device” writes the XML out for your accounting software.
tender.pdf, opened by Acrobat as a list of files
7 embedded files (PDF, DOCX, XLSX) with their sizes and dates, each one saveable. The page says the file is a portfolio, so readers open it as a file list.
report.pdf · attach figures.xlsx, description “The numbers behind every chart”, relationship Data
The spreadsheet is embedded with its MIME type, its size and its modification time, listed in the document’s attachment list and in the /AF array, so readers and PDF/A-3 tools both find it.
Common uses
- Getting the invoice XML out of a ZUGFeRD or Factur-X PDF for your accounting software.
- Opening a PDF portfolio when your reader cannot: every file, saved one by one.
- Checking what a PDF carries before you forward it — and removing files that should not leave the office.
- Shipping the source data, a drawing or a certificate with the document it belongs to.
- Finding the paperclip attachments a reviewer pinned to pages of a draft.
Where a PDF hides files
Three places, and all three are listed:
- The document’s attachment list — the embedded file streams of ISO 32000-1:2008, Document management — Portable document format — Part 1: PDF 1.7, §7.11.4, listed in the catalogue’s /Names /EmbeddedFiles name tree. This is what “Attachments” means in Acrobat Reader.
- Pinned to a page — a file-attachment annotation (§12.5.6.15), the paperclip or pin you can click on the page itself.
- A portfolio (§12.3.5) — the same embedded files plus a /Collection dictionary that asks readers to open the file as a list of files instead of showing its pages.
Each file also has a relationship (/AFRelationship) that says what it is to the document: Source, Data, Alternative, Supplement, Schema and so on. PDF/A-3 (ISO 19005-3:2012) requires it, together with the file’s MIME type — see the veraPDF rules for PDF/A-2 and PDF/A-3, clause 6.8 — which is why e-invoice PDFs declare their XML as Alternative.
What is written when you attach a file
Your file goes in as an embedded file stream with its data compressed (Flate), its MIME type as /Subtype, its length and modification time in /Params, and your description in /Desc. The file specification carries the name twice (/F and /UF, so names with accents survive), is listed in the name tree sorted by name as the standard requires, and is added to the catalogue’s /AF array — the list PDF/A-3 readers and e-invoice software look at.
Nothing else in the document changes: no page is rewritten, so text, pictures, links, form fields and bookmarks stay as they are.
Removing files, and what cannot be undone
Removing takes the file out of the attachment list and out of every /AF list, removes each paperclip annotation that carries it (with its pop-up note and the replies to it), then drops everything nothing refers to any more. The data is gone from the new file; it cannot be recovered from it, which is the point when you remove something confidential. Your original file is untouched.
If you remove every file of a portfolio, the /Collection marker goes too, so readers open the PDF as a normal document instead of an empty package.
Limitations
- A password-protected or encrypted PDF cannot be read here. Remove the protection with Unlock PDF first.
- Changing the file makes any digital signature in it show as invalid, and a signature that signs an attachment cannot be kept — keep the original if you need it.
- Files inside an embedded file are not opened: an attached ZIP is saved as a ZIP.
- At most 200 attachments, each up to 100 MB — a browser tab cannot hold more reliably.
- A portfolio’s folders and its custom columns are not edited; the files are listed and changed, the /Collection settings are kept as they are.
- An attachment whose data uses a compression this tool cannot decode is listed with its stored size and cannot be saved to your device; the page says so.
Privacy
Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.
Frequently asked questions
What do I get without a pass?
Without a pass, PDF Attachments: Extract, Add, Remove shows the whole list of embedded files, each one saveable to your device, and the first pages of the changed PDF (up to 3) as watermarked page images. Until you unlock it, the result can’t be downloaded. A Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass, a one-time payment that never renews, unlocks the full result. The pricing page lists the passes and their prices.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. The file is read and written in your browser with pdf-lib. Nothing is sent to MySmartCoPilot or anyone else, so you can check what a confidential document carries.
Why can I save an attachment without a pass?
Because it is your own file: the embedded file was already in the PDF you opened, so saving it is not a result this tool made. Only the changed PDF — the one with files added or removed — is a result, and its download unlocks with a Pro pass.
How do I get the XML out of a ZUGFeRD or Factur-X invoice?
Open the PDF here: the XML is listed (usually factur-x.xml or xrechnung.xml). Save to my device writes it out byte for byte, and Read it as an invoice opens it in the E-Invoice Viewer, which shows the seller, the lines and the VAT breakdown.
Will Acrobat Reader show the files I attach?
Yes. They are written exactly as the PDF standard describes — in the /EmbeddedFiles name tree and in /AF, with their MIME type — so Adobe Acrobat Reader lists them in its Attachments panel, as do other full PDF readers such as Foxit and the viewer built into Firefox. Some simple viewers, including many phone apps, show no attachments at all; the files are still inside the PDF.
Does removing a file really delete its data?
Yes. The new copy is written without the embedded file stream, and objects nothing refers to any more are dropped, so the data is not in the new file at all. Check the result in this tool if you want to be sure.
Can I attach a file to a particular page?
Files you attach here go into the document’s attachment list, which readers show for the whole PDF. Files already pinned to a page are listed with their page number and can be saved or removed.