PDFsam Creator & Producer
Understanding PDF metadata that shows PDFsam, SAMBox, or Sejda as the Creator or Producer — learn how this popular open-source PDF Split and Merge tool processes PDF documents.
📄 About This PDF Metadata
When you examine a PDF file's properties and see SAMBox, Sejda, or PDFsam as the Producer, it indicates that the document was processed using PDFsam — a free open-source desktop application for splitting, merging, extracting pages, rotating, and mixing PDF documents.
Sample PDF Metadata from PDFsam:
Title: Merged Document
Author: (may be empty or from source)
Creator: PDFsam Basic v5.4.1
Producer: SAMBox 3.0.99
Creation Date: 2025-01-27 11:00:00
PDF Version: 1.5
PDFsam uses SAMBox (a fork of Apache PDFBox) and Sejda SDK as its PDF processing engines. The Producer field typically shows "SAMBox" followed by the version number, while the Creator field shows "PDFsam Basic" or the specific PDFsam edition used.
PDF Creator
Shows PDFsam Basic v[version] or the specific PDFsam edition that processed the document.
PDF Producer
Shows SAMBox [version] — the PDFBox fork that handles low-level PDF processing in PDFsam.
📚 What is PDFsam?
PDFsam (PDF Split and Merge) is a free and open-source cross-platform desktop application to split, merge, extract pages, rotate, and mix PDF documents. Created by Andrea Vacondio, it has been free and open source since 2006. The software is developed by Sober Lemur S.r.l., a company registered in 2017 and headquartered in Bibbiano (Reggio Emilia), Italy.
Company Information
| Developer: | Sober Lemur S.r.l. |
| Founder: | Andrea Vacondio |
| Founded: | 2017 (company), 2006 (project) |
| Headquarters: | Bibbiano (Reggio Emilia), Italy |
| Website: | pdfsam.org |
Product Details
| First Released: | 2006 |
| Current Version: | 5.4.x (Basic) |
| Platforms: | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| License: | AGPL (version 3+), GPLv2 (v1-2) |
| Written In: | Java, JavaFX |
| PDF Engine: | SAMBox, Sejda SDK |
Key Features:
Split & Merge
Split PDFs by pages, bookmarks, or size; merge multiple PDFs into one
Rotate & Extract
Rotate pages, extract specific pages, mix alternate pages
Cross-Platform
Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux distributions
💡 PDF Processing Engine
PDFsam Basic relies on Sejda SDK, an open-source task-oriented Java library for PDF manipulation, and SAMBox, a fork of Apache PDFBox optimized for PDFsam. Earlier versions (1-2) used iText library, while versions 3+ transitioned to SAMBox/Sejda. Since version 5.4.1, PDFsam bundles OpenJDK 21.
⚙️ How PDFsam Processes PDFs
PDFsam is not a PDF creator — it's a PDF manipulation tool that processes existing PDF files:
Core Operations:
Merge
Combine multiple PDFs, with options for bookmarks and AcroForms
Split
Split by pages, bookmarks, size, or even/odd pages
Extract
Extract specific pages or page ranges to new files
Rotate
Rotate all or selected pages by 90°, 180°, or 270°
Mix
Interleave pages from multiple PDFs alternately
Encrypt
Add passwords with AES 128/256-bit encryption
PDF Engine Architecture:
| Component | Description | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Sejda SDK | Open-source Java PDF manipulation library | High-level PDF tasks (split, merge, etc.) |
| SAMBox | Fork of Apache PDFBox | Low-level PDF parsing and writing |
| JavaFX | Java GUI framework | User interface rendering |
| OpenJDK | Java runtime (bundled since v5.4.1) | Application runtime environment |
🛠️ PDFsam Editions
Sober Lemur offers three editions of PDFsam:
PDFsam Basic
Free / Open SourceFree desktop app for essential PDF manipulation.
- Merge PDF files
- Split by pages, bookmarks, size
- Extract pages
- Rotate pages
- Mix alternate pages
- Encrypt/decrypt PDFs
- Cross-platform (Win/Mac/Linux)
PDFsam Visual
CommercialVisual PDF composition and manipulation.
- Visual page composition
- Drag-and-drop page reorder
- Delete pages visually
- Crop PDF pages
- Convert to grayscale
- Extract text and images
- Batch processing
PDFsam Enhanced
CommercialFull PDF editor with advanced features.
- Edit PDF text and images
- Convert to/from 300+ formats
- Create fillable forms
- Digital signatures
- OCR text recognition
- Annotate and highlight
- Redact sensitive content
⚠️ Freemium Model Note
PDFsam Basic uses a freemium model and displays popups encouraging users to purchase the full commercial versions. The Basic version remains fully functional and free, but you may see promotional messages for PDFsam Enhanced and Visual.
📤 How to Use PDFsam
Use PDFsam Basic to split, merge, and manipulate PDF files:
Installation:
PDFsam Basic is available in multiple formats:
- Windows: MSI installer (32-bit and 64-bit)
- macOS: DMG package
- Linux: DEB package (Debian-based) or ZIP bundle
- Portable: ZIP bundle (all platforms)
Download from pdfsam.org. Since version 5.4.1, Java runtime (OpenJDK 21) is bundled — no separate Java installation required.
Merging PDFs:
Options include:
- Page selection: Specify page ranges (e.g., 1-10, 14, 25-)
- Bookmarks: Merge, discard, or create new bookmark tree
- AcroForms: Discard, merge, or merge with field renaming
- Table of contents: Generate clickable TOC at beginning
Splitting PDFs:
Split methods:
- Split after every n pages: Create files of equal page count
- Split at specific pages: Define exact split points
- Split by bookmarks: Split at bookmark levels
- Split by size: Create files of maximum size
- Split by even/odd pages: Separate even and odd pages
Other Operations:
Extract: Select page ranges to extract
Rotate: Rotate all or specific pages
Mix: Alternate pages from two PDFs
Encrypt: Add password protection
Decrypt: Remove password (if known)
Split by Bookmarks: Split at outline levels
🔍 Understanding PDF Metadata
When PDFsam processes a PDF, it updates the metadata to reflect the processing:
| Metadata Field | Value After Processing | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Title | May be empty or from source | Not preserved by default in merged files |
| Author | May be empty or from source | Not preserved by default in merged files |
| Subject | May be empty or from source | Not preserved by default in merged files |
| Keywords | May be empty or from source | Not preserved by default in merged files |
| Creator | PDFsam Basic v[version] |
Identifies the PDFsam edition used |
| Producer | SAMBox [version] |
The PDF engine that wrote the file |
| CreationDate | Processing timestamp | When the output file was created |
| ModDate | Processing timestamp | Same as creation date for new files |
Sample Producer Values:
| PDFsam Version | PDF Engine | Producer Value |
|---|---|---|
| PDFsam Basic 5.x | SAMBox 3.x | SAMBox 3.0.99 |
| PDFsam Basic 4.x | SAMBox 2.x | SAMBox 2.2.x |
| PDFsam Basic 3.x | SAMBox 1.x | SAMBox 1.x.x |
| PDFsam 2.x (legacy) | iText | iText [version] |
⚠️ Metadata Not Preserved
By default, PDFsam does not preserve original metadata when merging PDFs. The resulting file may have empty metadata fields (Title, Author, Subject, Keywords). This is a known limitation — see GitHub issue #235 for discussion. Some users work around this by using other tools to restore metadata after processing.
Creator Field Examples:
PDFsam Basic v5.4.1— Current versionPDFsam Basic v5.0.0— Major update with Sejda SDKPDFsam Basic v4.3.4— Version 4 seriesPDFsam Basic v3.3.7— First stable v3 with SAMBoxPDFsam Visual v6.1.1— Commercial visual edition
🛠️ Troubleshooting
Common issues when using PDFsam Basic:
PDFsam Won't Start / Java Error
Cause: Missing or incompatible Java runtime (older versions).
Solution: Update to PDFsam Basic 5.4.1 or later, which bundles OpenJDK 21 and doesn't require separate Java installation. For older versions, ensure Java 8 or later is installed and JAVA_HOME is set correctly.
Merge Results in Large File Size
Cause: PDFsam preserves PDF objects, which may result in larger files.
Solution: PDFsam Basic doesn't have built-in compression/optimization. Use PDFsam Visual or Enhanced for compression features, or use a separate PDF optimizer tool after merging.
Metadata Lost After Merge
Cause: PDFsam doesn't preserve original metadata by design.
Solution: This is expected behavior. PDFsam sets new Creator/Producer fields and may leave Title/Author empty. To preserve metadata, consider using PDFsam Enhanced or a separate metadata editor after processing.
Cannot Open Encrypted PDF
Cause: PDF is password-protected and PDFsam needs the password.
Solution: Use the Decrypt module first with the correct password to create an unprotected version, then perform your desired operation on the decrypted file.
Out of Memory Error with Large Files
Cause: PDFsam runs out of allocated memory when processing very large PDFs.
Solution: PDFsam 3.3+ uses SAMBox with lazy loading to handle large files (1GB+) efficiently. If still experiencing issues, close other applications, increase Java heap size via command line arguments, or split the operation into smaller batches.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
When a PDF shows "SAMBox" as the Producer, it means the PDF was processed using PDFsam or another tool using the SAMBox library. PDFsam (PDF Split and Merge) is a free open-source application for splitting, merging, extracting pages, rotating, and mixing PDF documents. SAMBox is a fork of Apache PDFBox that handles low-level PDF processing in PDFsam.
PDFsam Basic is completely free and open source under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL v3+). It's available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. There are also commercial versions — PDFsam Visual for visual PDF composition and PDFsam Enhanced for full PDF editing — which require paid licenses. Note that PDFsam Basic uses a freemium model with promotional popups.
PDFsam has been free and open source since 2006. It was created by Andrea Vacondio and started as a SourceForge project. The company Sober Lemur S.r.l. was registered in 2017 in Bibbiano (Reggio Emilia), Italy. Major version milestones include v2 (2009-2014, using iText), v3 (2015, transition to SAMBox/Sejda), and v5 (2023, Sejda SDK primary engine).
PDFsam Basic relies on Sejda SDK (open-source Java PDF manipulation library) and SAMBox (a fork of Apache PDFBox optimized for Sejda/PDFsam). Versions 1-2 used iText, while version 3+ transitioned to SAMBox. The GUI is built with JavaFX. Since version 5.4.1, PDFsam bundles OpenJDK 21 so no separate Java installation is needed.
PDFsam Basic is cross-platform, available for Windows (MSI installer, 32-bit and 64-bit), macOS (DMG package), and Linux (DEB package for Debian-based distributions, plus ZIP bundle). A portable ZIP version is also available for all platforms. Being written in Java, it can run anywhere Java is supported.
No, PDFsam does not preserve original metadata when merging PDFs by default. The resulting file will have "PDFsam Basic" as Creator and "SAMBox" as Producer, while Title, Author, Subject, and Keywords may be empty. This is a known limitation. If metadata preservation is important, you may need to use a separate metadata editor after processing.
PDFsam Basic (free) handles split, merge, extract, rotate, mix, and encrypt operations. PDFsam Visual (commercial) adds visual page composition, drag-and-drop reordering, cropping, grayscale conversion, and batch processing. PDFsam Enhanced (commercial) is a full PDF editor with text/image editing, format conversion (300+ formats), OCR, forms, digital signatures, and annotations.
🛠️ Related Tools
PDF Metadata Viewer
Free tool to view PDF metadata including Creator, Producer, and version information.
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📝 Summary: PDFsam PDF Metadata
- Andrea Vacondio created PDFsam
- Free and open source since 2006
- Producer shows SAMBox [version]
- Creator shows PDFsam Basic v[version]
- Cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux)
- Company: Sober Lemur S.r.l. (Italy)
- Uses Sejda SDK and SAMBox
- License: AGPL (version 3+)
- Split, merge, extract, rotate, mix PDFs
- Bundles OpenJDK 21 since v5.4.1