PDF layers allow users to selectively hide or show the content appearing on them in PDF documents. In this article, we will introduce how to add layers to a PDF document, draw content to the layers and delete a specific layer in Java using Free Spire.PDF for Java library.
Before getting started, please download Free Spire.PDF for Java package through this link, unzip the package and then import Spire.Pdf.jar from lib folder into our application.
Add layers to a PDF
In the below example, we will learn how to add two layers to a PDF document and draw the content of a PDF page and an image to the layers.
import com.spire.pdf.PdfDocument; import com.spire.pdf.PdfPageBase; import com.spire.pdf.graphics.*; import com.spire.pdf.PdfPageSize; import com.spire.pdf.graphics.layer.PdfLayer; import java.awt.*; import java.awt.geom.Point2D; public class AddLayers { public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { //Create a new PDF document PdfDocument target = new PdfDocument(); //Add a page PdfPageBase page = target.getPages().add(); //Load an existing PDF document PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(); pdf.loadFromFile("Instruction.pdf"); //Create a template of the first page in the PDF PdfTemplate template = pdf.getPages().get(0).createTemplate(); //Add a layer to the new created PDF PdfLayer layer1 = target.getLayers().addLayer("Layer 1"); PdfCanvas canvas1 = layer1.createGraphics(page.getCanvas()); //Draw the template to the layer canvas1.drawTemplate(template, new Point2D.Float(20,50), PdfPageSize.A4); //Add a layer to the new created PDF PdfLayer layer2 = target.getLayers().addLayer("Layer 2"); PdfCanvas canvas2 = layer2.createGraphics(page.getCanvas()); //Draw an image to the layer canvas2.drawImage(PdfImage.fromFile("Hydrangeas.jpg"), new Point2D.Float(330,125), new Dimension(200, 130)); //Save the resultant document target.saveToFile("result.pdf"); } } Delete a specific layer
The below example shows how to remove a specific layer along with its content from a PDF document.
import com.spire.pdf.PdfDocument; public class DeleteLayer { public static void main(String[] args){ //Load the PDF PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(); pdf.loadFromFile("result.pdf"); //Remove the layer named "Layer 1" and its content from the PDF pdf.getLayers().removeLayer("Layer 1", true); //Save the resultant document pdf.saveToFile("deleteLayer.pdf"); pdf.close(); } } 
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