How to duplicate a PDF page using PHP

This tutorial shows how to duplicate PDF pages using the duplicate PDF page PHP API. The free plan includes 200 credits. Different operations consume different credit amounts. Create a free account(opens in a new tab) to get your API key.

Why duplicate PDF pages?

Duplicating PDF pages is important for document workflows that require processing the same content differently. Common use cases include:

• Multi-recipient workflows — Apply different watermarks or annotations to the same page for different recipients, e.g. watermarked versions for clients and clean versions for internal use.
• Backup and versioning — Create page-level backups before performing destructive operations like flattening or redaction, preserving the original state.
• Template-based generation — Build complex documents by duplicating template pages and customizing each copy with recipient-specific data.
• Testing and validation — Duplicate pages to test different processing operations (compression, OCR, conversion) while keeping the original intact.
• Workflow automation — Process batches of pages programmatically as part of your backend infrastructure, duplicating pages at specific positions for assembly workflows.

The duplicate PDF page API automates this process in your workflow.

Nutrient DWS Processor API

Page duplication is one of 30+ PDF API tools available. Combine it with other tools for complex workflows:

• Convert MS Office files and images to PDF, and then duplicate specific pages
• Merge multiple PDFs and duplicate selected pages
• Apply watermarks, and split or flatten PDFs with page duplication at any step

Your account gives you access to all PDF API tools.

Step 1 — Creating a free account on Nutrient

Go to the signup page(opens in a new tab) to create your free account.

After account creation, the dashboard shows your plan details.

You get 200 processing credits and access to all PDF API tools.

Step 2 — Obtaining the API key

After email verification, get your API key from the dashboard. Click API keys in the left menu to see your keys.

Copy the Live API key for use with the PHP API.

Step 3 — Setting up folders and files

Create a folder called duplicate_pdf and open it in your code editor. Create two subfolders: input_documents and processed_documents.

In the root folder, create processor.php for your code. Place your PDF files in the input_documents folder.

Your folder structure:

duplicate_pdf
├── input_documents
├── processed_documents
└── processor.php

Step 4 — Writing the code

Open the processor.php file and paste the code below into it:

<?php

$FileHandle = fopen('processed_documents/result.pdf', 'w+');

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
  CURLOPT_URL => 'https://api.nutrient.io/build',
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'POST',
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => '',
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => array(
    'instructions' => '{
      "parts": [
        {
          "file": "document",
          "pages": {
            "start": 0,
            "end": 0
          }
        },
        {
          "file": "document"
        },
        {
          "file": "document",
          "pages": {
            "start": -1,
            "end": -1
          }
        }
      ]
    }',
    'document' => new CURLFILE('input_documents/document.pdf')
  ),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
    'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY_HERE'
  ),
  CURLOPT_FILE => $FileHandle,
));

$response = curl_exec($curl);

curl_close($curl);

fclose($FileHandle);

Code explanation

The code creates a FileHandle variable, initiates curl, and sets up the instructions:

{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": "document",
      "pages": {
        "start": 0,
        "end": 0
      }
    },
    {
      "file": "document"
    },
    {
      "file": "document",
      "pages": {
        "start": -1,
        "end": -1
      }
    }
  ]
}

This duplicates the first and last page of the PDF, adding them at the end of the file. The API call to the duplicate PDF endpoint saves the response in the processed_documents folder.

Output

Run this command to execute the code:

php processor.php

After successful execution, result.pdf appears in the processed_documents folder.

Final folder structure:

duplicate_pdf
├── input_documents
├── processed_documents
|    └── result.pdf
└── processor.php

Conclusion

This tutorial covered duplicating PDF pages in PHP using the duplicate PDF page API.

You can add this functionality to your existing applications. The same API token works for other operations like merging PDFs and adding watermarks. Sign up(opens in a new tab) for a free trial.

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