PDF – Common Objects – Cheat Sheet

Graphics State Annotations (28)

Parameter Type(s) Version ExtGState Key(s) Operator(s) Initial Value Subtype Version Description
CTM array (matrix) PDF 1.0 - cm Identity matrix: [ 1 0 0 1 0 0 ] Caret PDF 1.5 Caret mark, indicating presence of text edit. ‸

W, W*, Circle PDF 1.3 Ellipse-shaped markup.

Clipping path path PDF 1.0 - MediaBox of page.
ET (if Tr=4-7) BBox for XObjects. FileAttachment PDF 1.3 File attachment linked to a file specification dictionary.
Color space name or array PDF 1.0 - various DeviceGray FreeText PDF 1.3 Displays free (variable) text directly on top of the page
as a callout.
Color various PDF 1.0 - various black (0.0) in DeviceGray
Highlight PDF 1.3 Highlight-style annotation. Highlight
Text matrix array (matrix) PDF 1.0 - Tm, Td, TD, Identity matrix: [ 1 0 0 1 0 0 ]
T*, ', " Ink PDF 1.3 Freehand "scribble" (arbitrary disjoint paths).

Font Tf Line PDF 1.3 Single straight line, with caption, leader lines,
Text font and size name and number PDF 1.0 no initial value (unset)

Markup Annotations (18)

measurement.
Text horizontal scaling number (> 0, percentage) PDF 1.0 - Tz 100.0
Polygon PDF 1.5 Display closed polygons, with lines or curves and
Text Knockout boolean PDF 1.4 TK - false various line ending styles.
- Tc, " 0.0 PolyLine PDF 1.5 Polyline annotation, with lines or curves (not closed)
Text character spacing number PDF 1.0
with various line ending styles.
Text word spacing number PDF 1.0 - Tw, " 0.0
Projection
Device independent

PDF 2.0 Comments within 3D environments.

Text Leading number PDF 1.0 - TL, TD, T* 0.0 Redact PDF 1.7 Redaction annotation for content identification that is
Text rendering mode integer (0-7) PDF 1.0 - Tr 0 (fill) to be removed.
Sound PDF 1.2 Sound annotation, with associated text.
Text rise number PDF 1.0 - Ts 0.0
(PDF 2.0 deprecated) Use RichMedia annotation instead.
Line Width number PDF 1.0 LW w 1.0 Square PDF 1.3 Rectangular markup.
Line Cap integer (0-3) PDF 1.0 LC J 0 (butt cap) Squiggly PDF 1.4 Squiggly-underline markup. Squiggly.
Line Join integer (0-3) PDF 1.0 LJ j 0 (miter join) Stamp PDF 1.3 Rubber stamp style annotation.
Miter Limit number PDF 1.0 ML M 10.0 StrikeOut PDF 1.3 Strikethrough annotation (strikethrough)
Dash pattern array and number PDF 1.0 D d [] 0 (solid undashed line) Text PDF 1.0 "Sticky note" style annotation.
Does not rotate or scale with page.
Rendering Intent name PDF 1.3 RI ri RelativeColorimetric
Underline PDF 1.3 Underline markup. Underline.
Stroke Adjustment boolean PDF 1.2 SA - false
3D PDF 1.6 3D artwork using U3D or PRC 3D data formats.
Blend Mode name or array (array PDF 1.4 BM - Normal
Link PDF 1.0 Hyperlink to destination in a PDF or perform an action
deprecated in PDF 2.0)
(e.g. URL).
Soft Mask dictionary or name PDF 1.4 SMask - None
Movie PDF 1.2 Movie annotation.
Constant Alpha number PDF 1.4 ca, CA - 1.0 (fully opaque) (PDF 2.0 deprecated) Use RichMedia annotation instead.
AIS - false Popup PDF 1.3 Popup annotation. Must be used with markup
Alpha Is Source boolean PDF 1.4
annotations.
Black Point Compensation name PDF 2.0 UseBlackPtComp - Default. Values are ON, OFF and Default. PrinterMark PDF 1.4 Printer’s marks such as registration targets, color bars,
OverPrint boolean PDF 1.3 op, OP - false cut marks, etc.
RichMedia PDF 2.0 RichMedia content such as 3D, audio or video.
OverPrint Mode number PDF 1.3 OPM - 0
Screen PDF 1.5 Region of a page where media clips are played, with
Device dependent

Black Generation function or name PDF 1.2 BG, BG2 - implementation dependent rendition actions.
UnderColor Removal function or name PDF 1.2 UCR, UCR2 - implementation dependent TrapNet PDF 1.3 Defines any page trapping. Only one per page.
TR, TR2 - (PDF 2.0 deprecated) Must be last annotation on a page.
TRansfer function function, name, or array PDF 1.2 implementation dependent
Watermark PDF 1.6 Fixed size and position watermark annotation.
HalfTone dictionary, stream, or name PDF 1.2 HT - implementation dependent
Flatness error
tolerance
Widget PDF 1.2 Widget annotations for field appearances on
HalfTone Origin array (2 numbers, point) PDF 2.0 HTO - implementation dependent interactive forms.
FLatness tolerance number PDF 1.0 FL i 1.0 (output device pixels)
SMoothness tolerance number PDF 1.3 SM - implementation dependent

© 2023, PDF Association, [Link] (v1.00)

 PDF – Common Objects – Cheat Sheet
Color Spaces (11) Fonts
Color Space Comp. Version Type PDF object / description Subtype Description
Device Gray 1 PDF 1.1 name • /DeviceGray Type 0 Type0 A composite font — a font composed of glyphs from a
• Additive color space descendant CIDFont. (PDF 1.2)
Device (3)

Device RGB 3 PDF 1.0 name • /DeviceRGB Type 1 Type1 A simple font that defines glyphs using Type 1 (PostScript
• Additive color space based) font technology

Device CMYK 4 PDF 1.1 name • /DeviceCMYK MMType1 A multiple master font — an extension of Type 1 fonts that
• Subtractive color space allows generation of a wide variety of typeface styles from a
single font.
Calibrated Gray 1 PDF 1.1 array • [ /CalGray dict ]
Type 3 Type3 A simple font where glyph descriptions are PDF content
• << /WhitePoint [X W 1.0 Z W ] /BlackPoint [X B Y B Z B ] /Gamma g >>
streams defined in the CharProcs array. Each content stream
Calibrated RGB 3 PDF 1.1 array • [ /CalRGB dict ] must start with either the d0 or d1 operator.
• << /WhitePoint [X W 1.0 Z W ] /BlackPoint [X K Y K Z K ] TrueType TrueType A simple font based on TrueType or OpenType.
/Gamma [G R G G G B ] /Matrix [ … 9 numbers … ] >>
CIDFont CIDFontType0 A CIDFont whose glyph descriptions are based on CFF font
L*a*b* 3 PDF 1.1 array • [ /Lab dict ] technology. Cannot be used with Tf operator. (PDF 1.2)
• << /WhitePoint [X W 1.0 Z W ] /BlackPoint [X B Y B Z B ]
/Range [ a min a max b min b max ] >> CIDFontType2 A CIDFont whose glyph descriptions are based on TrueType
CIE-Based Color Spaces (4)

• Default Range is [ -128 127 -128 127 ]. 0 ≤ L* ≤ 100. glyph technology. Cannot be used with Tf operator. (PDF 1.2)

Document Catalog Names name-trees

Key Version String maps to…
AlternatePresentations PDF 1.4 Alternate presentations.
(deprecated in PDF 2.0)
AP PDF 1.3 Annotation appearances.
Dests PDF 1.2 Destinations.
EmbeddedFiles PDF 1.4 File specifications for embedded files.
IDS PDF 1.3 ID strings mapped to Web Capture content sets.
JavaScript PDF 1.3 Document-level ECMAScript actions.
Pages PDF 1.3 Visible pages for use with interactive forms.
ICC based 1,3,4 PDF 1.3 array • [ /ICCBased stream ]
Renditions PDF 1.5 Rendition objects.
• Additional stream dictionary entries for ICCBased:
<< /N n /Alternate altCS /Range [… 2×n numbers …] … >> Templates PDF 1.3 Invisible (template) pages for use with forms.

Separation 1 PDF 1.2 array • [ /Separation spotname altCS tintTransform ] URLS PDF 1.3 URLs mapping to Web Capture content sets.
• spotname: All, None, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, or custom.
•
•
altCS: any device or CIE-based colour space with m components.
tintTransform: PDF function object with 1 in → m out. Resource dictionary objects
• Treated as subtractive color space: 0.0 (lightest) ≤ tint ≤ 1.0 (darkest) Key Version Type Description
Special Color Spaces (4)

Device N N PDF 1.3 array • [ /DeviceN [ spot1 … spotN ] altCS tintTransform attributes ] ColorSpace PDF 1.0 dictionary Names of a device-dependent color space, or color
• [ spot1 … spotN ]: an array containing N names of the spot colors space array objects.
• altCS: any device or CIE-based colour space with m components. ExtGState PDF 1.0 dictionary Graphic state parameter dictionaries.
• tintTransform: PDF function object with N in → m out. Font PDF 1.0 dictionary Font dictionaries.
• attributes: optional attributes dictionary. /Subtype DeviceN or NChannel
Pattern PDF 1.0 dictionary Pattern objects.
• Treated as subtractive color space: 0.0 (lightest) ≤ tint i ≤ 1.0 (darkest)
ProcSet PDF 1.0 array Pre-defined PostScript procedure set names.
Indexed 1-256 PDF 1.1 array • [ /Indexed baseCS hival lookup ] (Deprecated in PDF 1.4)
• baseCS: any device or CIE-based colour space or (PDF 1.3) a Separation or DeviceN space, but not Properties PDF 1.2 dictionary Property list dictionaries for Marked Content.
a Pattern or another Indexed color space.
• 0 ≤ hival ≤ 255 Shading PDF 1.3 dictionary Shading dictionaries.
• lookup is a byte string (PDF 1.2) or stream which is hival × m bytes, where m is the number of XObject PDF 1.0 dictionary Form and Image XObjects.
components (channels) in baseCS
Pattern n/a PDF 1.2 array • [ /Pattern baseCS ]

Date:
2023.08.23
[Link] © 2023, PDF Association, [Link] (v1.10)
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