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Setting up S3 buckets and IAM credentials can be a bit tricky, so we’ve broken the process down step-by-step:

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Overview

1. Create a new S3 bucket (private or public) 2. Create an IAM user 3. Create an IAM group 4. Add the user to the group 5. Attach a policy that allows uploads to your bucket 6. Generate access and secret keys 7. Add the S3 connection in pdf noodle 8. Set it as your default storage

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Step 1: Create an S3 Bucket

1. In your AWS console, go to the S3 service and click Create bucket. 2. Enter a bucket name and choose a region (e.g. us-east-1). 3. We recommend making the bucket private. pdf noodle will use signed URLs to upload files securely. 4. Click Create bucket to finish.

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Step 2: Create an IAM User

1. In the AWS console, go to IAM > Users and click Create user. 2. Name the user something like pdfnoodle-s3-user. 3. On the next step, choose Add user to group and click Create group. 4. Name the group something like pdfnoodle-uploaders. 5. Complete the user creation wizard.

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Step 3: Add Upload Permissions

1. Go to the group you just created. 2. Under the Permissions tab, click Add permissions > Create inline policy. 3. Switch to the JSON tab and paste the following policy: For pdf noodle to only have access to upload files: 
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": ["s3:PutObject"],
      "Resource": ["arn:aws:s3:::your-bucket-name/*"]
    }
  ]
}
For pdf noodle to have access have access to upload and get files: 
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:PutObject",
        "s3:GetObject"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::your-bucket-name/*"
    }
  ]
}
Replace your-bucket-name with your actual bucket name.
Hint: If you want this user to have access to all your buckets (not recommended), use: arn:aws:s3:::*/*.
  1. Click Review policy, name it (e.g. pdfnoodle-s3-policy), and save.

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Step 4: Generate Access Keys

1. Go back to the IAM user you created. 2. Under the Security credentials tab, scroll to Access keys. 3. Click Create access key, selecting Third-party service as the use case. 4. Copy the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key — you won’t be able to see the secret again.

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Step 5: Connect Your Bucket to pdf noodle

1. In pdf noodle, go to Settings > S3 Configuration. 2. Click Add S3 Connection, then enter:
  • Provider: AWS
  • Access Key and Secret Key
  • Bucket Name
  • Bucket Region
  • (Optional): Enable Upload access only if you don’t want pdf noodle to read from the bucket.
Note: With Upload access only enabled, we won’t return the file in the API response—only its key.
3. Click Continue. If everything’s configured properly, you’ll see a success message. pdf noodle will attempt to upload a test file to: pdfnoodle_test/delete_me_{date}.txt Since we don’t have delete permissions, you’ll need to remove that file manually later.
Hint: If you see an error, double-check your credentials and bucket permissions.

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Step 6: Set as Default Storage

Go back to your S3 settings in pdf noodle and select your new connection as the default bucket. All future PDFs will now be saved there. 🎉