PDF Sanitizer

Project Overview

PDF Sanitizer is a desktop application that removes potentially dangerous or privacy-leaking content from PDF files — JavaScript, auto-run actions, embedded attachments, outbound links and metadata — and replaces each file with a clean copy. Originals are moved to a backup folder, and every sanitized file is re-parsed and verified before the original is touched.

It ships as a single Windows executable with no installer, no account and no network access: everything runs locally.

Features

• Active Content Removal: Strips JavaScript, OpenAction/AA triggers, launch, submit-form and media actions, and XFA forms — wherever they appear in the document.
• Hidden Payload Removal: Deletes embedded files and file-attachment annotations.
• Metadata Scrubbing: Removes author, dates, producer software and XMP metadata streams.
• Link Stripping: Optionally removes links to external URLs and remote files while keeping internal navigation.
• Verified Output: Checks page count, content streams and leftover scripts on every result; if a check fails, the original is left untouched.
• Safe File Handling: Originals are moved to a backup folder and the clean file takes their place, with automatic rollback if the swap fails.
• Batch Processing: Process up to 8 files in parallel with per-file progress, stop and retry.
• File Size Optimization: Optional TrueType font subsetting and JPEG image recompression.
• Encrypted PDF Support: Opens files protected only by an owner (permissions) password, including AES-encrypted ones.
• Light & Dark Theme: Follows the system theme.

Tech Stack

Frontend

• Framework: Svelte 5
• Build Tool: Vite
• Testing: Vitest
• Native Dialogs: Tauri Dialog Plugin

Backend

• Desktop Shell: Tauri 2
• Language: Rust
• Async Runtime: Tokio with semaphore-based concurrency and cancellation tokens
• PDF Engine: lopdf in a standalone pdfsan-core crate, with custom font subsetting and image recompression

Tooling

• Cross-compilation: cargo-xwin builds the Windows .exe from Linux, in Docker and GitHub Actions
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions for tests, releases with changelog-driven notes, and a VitePress documentation site on GitHub Pages