Hey all,
My father’s business requires him to work a lot with PDF forms, combine PDF files, convert scanned pictures to files, etc.
I’ve found Master PDF editor, but I’ve found it to be buggy – specifically when trying to create a new PDF from multiple files the program errors out saying it can’t create the file.
I’ve also tried running Foxxit PDF editor through WINE but that’s abysmal.
Any recommendations on Linux native software paid or FOSS, that can fill forms, create/combine PDFs, and do basic edition (rotating pages, etc) that my 70 year old dad can learn to use?
I moved him away from Windows with the Windows 11 debacle, and he’s liked Linux so far except for this one issue
Thanks all for your help?
***** EDIT *****
Thanks all for your responses, I’ll be trying out StirlingpPDF, PDFSam, OnlyOffice, and re-trying MasterPDF editor over the holidays while I have some 1:1 time with my dad. Tl;Dr: playing family IT and switching your parents to Linux is rough 😂
I’ve been through a lot of options trying to get the same functionality you mentioned. I’ve never found a single app that works particularly well. I’m surprised the state of PDF apps is so poor in Linux. Others have mentioned a bunch of apps and each fails in some major way. I’ll come back and check this comment section later for new suggestions for my own sake too.
There is a reason for that. PDFs de facto “standard” is complex and documentation is sparse. PDFs were also designed to be static and uneditable which makes a lot of simple edits more complex to implement than people think.
Understandable, but it’s a significant diifculty in migrating fully to Linux when PDFs are used everywhere and there are solutions that work well on Windows. This is one of the few things I will get my wife’s Windows laptop for.
And because Linux users know what an
mdfile is.
Master pdf editor works great for me. License costs $80, but compared to Adobe prices it is basically free.
I’ve never had issues with it either, but it’s probably overkill for OP’s requirements.
I use PDF Arranger a lot for that
For working with PDFs on a page level (moving pages around, deleting, copying pages between PDFs etc) pdfarranger is the best and easiest of anything I could find, can vouch for it.
For edits whithin a page, I use inkscape. Both program combined have covered all my needs until now.
Or libreoffice draw sometimes, it depends, but yes, pdfarranger + one of the two is enough for most of the tasks.
I like to add xournal++ for editing PDF without a functional form field. And as other said already: PDF Ranger and Firefox itself
PDF Ranger or PDF Arranger?
Sorry, I meant PDF arranger https://github.com/pdfarranger/pdfarranger
Ahhh OK, I was thinking about the CLI file manager
rangerand got excited for a CLI PDF editor.Yeah, that would be something great for sure!
Don’t browsers allow you to do form fillable these days? I swear i just filled one with firefox the other day. Maybe that’s too limited?
For combining pdfs, pdftk from the command line is my goto. The command line interface for it isn’t too complicated.
Exactly. OP should start by seeing what’s possible in Firefox.
It does, as well as adding pictures into it and drawing by hand, so handwritten signing shouldn’t be an issue, either.
It doesn’t allow you to merge several PDFs, that’s still something they need other software for.
I use a combination of Okular for signing PDFs and PDF Arranger for rearranging pages, etc
For Editing you can use libre office draw or stirling pdf in a docker container. For Formulars and other stuff sounds can use okular.
For “basic edition (rotating pages, etc)”, I myself always use pdftk.
“If PDF is electronic paper, then pdftk is an electronic staple-remover, hole-punch, binder, secret-decoder-ring, and X-Ray-glasses.”
Did too until recently, started to switch to qpdf aqs it seems more openly maintained while doing about the same job with, arguably, clearer documentation than pdftk.
For filling forms mupdf-gl, for combining and rearranging pages pdf arranger, imagemagick to convert images to files (commandline with easy format ‘convert file.png file.pdf’), mupdf and zathura to view them.
Yea I use IM for flattening PDFs before I send them.
OnlyOffice is the best I think…
Does OO do PDF now? Perhaps it’s time to upgrade my Nextcloud server again.
Add the Collabra online built in CODE server and Nextcloud Office apps. Link them up and you have Libre Office in your browser on your Nextcloud. You can get more complicated: https://collabora-online-for-nextcloud.readthedocs.io/en/latest/install/
No thanks. OnlyOffice is way better. Better interface and better MS compatibility. Plus it’s built for web, while Collabra is a glorified VNC session.
It’s always good to have choice.
I’m not sure what better MS compatibility really means. I’ve been using MS software since before Excel, Word etc even existed and taught a lot of people how spreadsheets, word processors, databases, DTP and the rest work in a former life (do you know what a decimal tab stop is, or how to control leading and kerning?)
I generate, by far, the most complicated documents within my company and I have been using LO since way before before it forked from OO. All software has bugs and peccadilloes.
As I said: it’s good to have choice.
The biggest differences between compatibility are with Word and PowerPoint. Cross-slide animations fail miserably in LO, and line placement and width consistency is always problematic, to name a few. For Word, paragraph formatting and color pallet gets mixed up, too.
Don’t get me wrong, LO is great, and it handles large data sets in Excel way better, but if you work in an industry where the document formatting is part of the industry (take marketing, for instance), it doesn’t cut it.
Whoa I had no idea OnlyOffice had a PDF editor, I’ll be checking that out this week, thanks!
https://invent.kde.org/graphics/okular
I like Okular’s ability to scan and convert tabled data in PDFs too. There is an option to turn off DRM nonsense. That can do page edits and stuff. If you want to create pages with images you need an office suite.
It also has support for digital signatures that work with saved inserted signatures
When Python coders create documentation popular options: Sphinx and mkdocs. pandocs for converting a lone vanilla ReStructuredText file.
With Sphinx can create user manual and PDF!
Let me politely add a big warning, there is a learning curve
Any user level questions regarding Sphinx can send my way
This would totally work if it was for me, but the constant complaint from my dad is, “This was easier on Windows, why did you switch me to Linux?” So it has to be 70 year old man easy. Thank you, though!
when faced with people with that position/attitude/minset, i have a phrase for that,
grandma gets a smartphone. These people really aren’t made to be using tech.
I’m guessing Firefox’s pdf editor is not sophisticated enough
Yeah as @Nick mentioned, if it was just filling forms that would be fine, but its arranging documents and adding files together that he does most
For basic form filling, the Firefox PDF editor is fine. But sounds like OP’s use case is more advanced than that.
This one has a perpetual license option, which could be steep for personal use but could be fine for a business. PDFsam Visual is great for what it does. You can also try it for 14 days too and then decide if it’s useful for you or not.
Thanks! I’m going to check this out!
No problem!
Thanks for sharing this, it actually looks like a fantastic alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC.
No problem! There are actually a lot of good paid software for Linux too but most people don’t know about them. Mostly targeted businesses but that’s fine I think.
The options are surprisingly poor.
Personally, I rolled my own TUI script. It uses
pdftkto explode and merge, andgs(Ghostscript) to optimize. To paste PNGs of my signature (absurd, but here we are) I usexournal, which looks a bit rough but gets the job done.
