---
name: "pdfdetach"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "poppler"
version: "26.10.0-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pdfdetach"
---

# pdfdetach(1)

Portable Document Format (PDF) document embedded file extractor (version 3.03)

## NAME

pdfdetach - Portable Document Format (PDF) document embedded file extractor (version 3.03)

## SYNOPSIS

**pdfdetach** \[options\] \[*PDF-file*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**Pdfdetach** lists or extracts embedded files (attachments) from a Portable Document Format (PDF) file.

## OPTIONS

Some of the following options can be set with configuration file commands.  These are listed in square brackets with the description of the corresponding command line option.

- **-list**

  List all of the embedded files in the PDF file.  File names are converted to the text encoding specified by the "-enc" switch.

- **-save** *number*

  Save the specified embedded file.  By default, this uses the file name associated with the embedded file (as printed by the "-list" switch); the file name can be changed with the "-o" switch.

- **-savefile** *filename*

  Save the specified embedded file.  By default, this uses the file name associated with the embedded file (as printed by the "-list" switch); the file name can be changed with the "-o" switch.

- **-saveall**

  Save all of the embedded files.  This uses the file names associated with the embedded files (as printed by the "-list" switch).  By default, the files are saved in the current directory; this can be changed with the "-o" switch.

- **-o** *path*

  Set the file name used when saving an embedded file with the "-save" switch, or the directory used by "-saveall".

- **-enc** *encoding-name*

  Sets the encoding to use for text output (embedded file names). This defaults to "UTF-8".

- **-opw** *password*

  Specify the owner password for the PDF file.  Providing this will bypass all security restrictions.

- **-upw** *password*

  Specify the user password for the PDF file.

- **-v**

  Print copyright and version information.

- **-h**

  Print usage information. (**-help** and **--help** are equivalent.)

## EXIT CODES

The Xpdf tools use the following exit codes:

- 0

  No error.

- 1

  Error opening a PDF file.

- 2

  Error opening an output file.

- 3

  Error related to PDF permissions.

- 99

  Other error.

## AUTHOR

The pdfinfo software and documentation are copyright 1996-2011 Glyph & Cog, LLC.

## SEE ALSO

[**pdffonts**(1)](/pdffonts/1.md), [**pdfimages**(1)](/pdfimages/1.md), [**pdfinfo**(1)](/pdfinfo/1.md), [**pdftocairo**(1)](/pdftocairo/1.md), [**pdftohtml**(1)](/pdftohtml/1.md), [**pdftoppm**(1)](/pdftoppm/1.md), [**pdftops**(1)](/pdftops/1.md), [**pdftotext**(1)](/pdftotext/1.md) [**pdfseparate**(1)](/pdfseparate/1.md), [**pdfsig**(1)](/pdfsig/1.md), [**pdfunite**(1)](/pdfunite/1.md)