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Reading PDF Annotations Using iText

I am trying to get the contents of a PDF annotation to a string so that I can store this information in a search database.

Does anyone know how to do this using iText / iTextSharp?

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Yes, but the specifics really depend on what types of annotations you are talking about.

Generally:

PdfDictionary pageDict = myPdfReader.getPageN(firstPageIsOne); PdfArray annotArray = pageDict.getAsArray(PdfName.ANNOTS); for (int i = 0; i < annotArray.size(); ++i) { PdfDictionary curAnnot = annotArray.getAsDict(i); int someType = myCodeToGetAnAnnotsType(curAnnot); if (someType == THIS_TYPE) { writeThisType(curAnnot); } else if (someType == THAT_TYPE) { writeThatType(curAnnot); } }

For more information, see the PDF Specification , in particular, annotation descriptions: "Chapter 12.5.6 Annotation Types".

If you can tell us what types you are interested in, I can help.

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In the future, contact anyone who finds this question through Google, like me ...

If what you want to do is find the name and contents of the annotations with a note entry. You can do it (partly based on answer from Mark)

 PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(somePDF); PdfDictionary pageDict = reader.GetPageN(1); PdfArray annotArray = pageDict.GetAsArray(PdfName.ANNOTS); for (int i = 0; i < annotArray.Size; ++i) { PdfDictionary curAnnot = annotArray.GetAsDict(i); PdfString name = curAnnot.GetAsString(PdfName.T); PdfString contents = curAnnot.GetAsString(PdfName.CONTENTS); if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(name?.ToString())) { Console.WriteLine(name); } if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(contents?.ToString())) { Console.WriteLine(contents); } }

In addition, to determine what you are looking for, you can open the PDF file in a text editor and search / annotate, and you will quickly find your annotation object.

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