Linux PDF editor for manipulating PDF documents

[Mahican]

I am looking for some support on Linux machine related to pdf documents. What I know about this is that Adobe Acrobat is the one tool that can help out for working on Linux machines to manage the pdf files. But I need some more support for the same. Linux tools are open source but on the same hand there is certain issue with the compatibility with the various version of software's. I am talking about the cross platform software's that are widely available and work well on Windows and Mac. The only choice that right now I have is to use Adobe products or any open source viewer that can help me to have a temporary solution for viewing the documents. I also need some quiet advance tools which can help me to work on more detailed manner. Like moving a part of a document.

[Mr.ken]

I too believe that you have only the Adobe tool choice for manipulating those portable documents. I had not find any other best tool rather than Acrobat reader. You must try this out for various purpose as this tool is reliable and the most appropriate one. I had myself found this tool much more effective for pdf files. It allows you to export files to other formats also but that is rather limited to some version of the software. I had tried to find some pdf edit software but does not provide a much help. Mostly my documents are converted to junk content which rather waste out my time to re-edit the entire thing back again. You does need to get commercial version of the software the free one also do's the work. The tool offers you to Edit PDF pages directly in an intuitive manner. It is also possible by some tools which can help you to add watermarks and stamps to PDF pages. That is not provided in the Adobe tool but some pdf editor which ensures the security of your documents online. It is now possible that content can easily manipulated if you left the same on some public directory. There are some more tools which can help you out to extract the images and on the same hand also to the images for flexible uses. Images are quiet a vital need of the documents and you need to adjust the same like company logos or other things. In of the tool and also in Adobe Acrobat reader it is also possible to secure your documents. It is possible to change the PDF security which helps out to protect your content. All in all you can go for Adobe in one choice and if still you are planing to manipulate some software for much advance features then you can choose more advance tool. There are no limitations of such tools in open source world.

[Orton]

What I know about the Adobe product that the same is widely used and it is quiet common also. That means you can download the same from internet. It allows you to write on the pdf file. You can generate your own pdf document and later on edit the same file as per your use. So you are getting more in that. The other thing which I look in pdf software id printing and saving the pdf files. The new Adobe tools also allows you to export your documents in the xml format for better sharing. Or else there are various software you can choose. Like one I know is Foxit PDF Editor. After Adobe I found this tool is very effective one. Which this tool it is quite possible to edit your PDF files with a few clicks with Foxit PDF Editor. This tool allows you to edit any content of your document. That can be any part where you want to insert or delete pages and add graphics and shadows. You can also delete items of some documents and later on zoom and rotate pages. The tool also has a support for creating images using the integrated editor. So here you does need any additional support for a image editor software. The changes in the file can be seen later on. So you have a complete information of what you have done with the document. By this you can track the result of your document you got afterward and the same difference which was live before applying the effects. But I will not say that you have only this tool to use and the advance feature this tool actually supports. There are other more filled on the internet. What I know that in Ubuntu you have a similar access to directly view the pdf files in your system without the support of any software or application. I am not actually sure about the procedure but the same is possible by some type of command.

[jhon]

Even I agree with the above post that Foxit is proper tool mainly if you are working on a open source platform. Foxit PDF Editor can meet your needs and the same is quiet a better alternative in place of Adobe. The best things about Foxit PDF Editor I like is that this PDF editor allows you to edit any content on your PDF document. So for example last week I downloaded a form from a e commerce website. The form is in the format of a pdf document. I have Acrobat reader in my system but for filling the form the only option I had is to take the print out. A friend suggested me to use Foxit and directly edit the form on the screen and mail it. The same was then possible. The other thing also I want to highlight here is the interface of this software which allows you to do any thing in the document. It is simply possible to add a part or table in the document or to choose any part of the page and delete the same. What I look for a better quality in the pdf editor is that it must have a ability to import PDF files from external sources. The most common example for that is using office documents of using image files. Some the editors in other pdf software are not so easy to understand with lots of additional features. While Foxit gives you a WYSIWYG editor. You might have heard this term in HTML work. I have some site which gives you two windows where on the one side you type code and other shows you the result directly. The same concept is integrated with Foxit reader. You can see directly any changes to your PDF. So that makes you job easy and saves the time of re-editing the software back and back again. Some of the very basic tools which I found in my case is Verypdf. This is not an very advance pdf editor but works well on Linux and a simple alternative for scan documents. I am not sure that this tool gives a direct document import from the scanner. I might need to test the same out. The same support I think is provided in the Acrobat Reader but not sure. The process for that is a scanner scans the documents and then a pdf file is exported on the system. The same then can be access by the pdf software. But what about directly scanning the pdf viewer.

[Leonard]

There are various pdf editor for Linux platform and they work quiet a well. The one of which I was using was scribus. It is an open source tool which is used for Desktop Page Layout. You can also say it that this tool is best suited for desktop publishing work. The tool supports cross platforms. That means you have different versions for this software for Linux, Mac or Windows. The tool is also a very good alternative for PDFEdit. In this once downloaded run it and there you just need to open the file. You can open that via option command. It is possible to edit a pdf file on this tool. So you got similar features what other tools provides you. The software allows you to layout a newspaper, poster or just a file PDF. Scribus offers professional features such as support CMYK , ICC color profiles or create PDF/X-3 files. The same tool also supports the import format EPS / PS if you install Ghostscript. The software provides you a better features and support for better editing for the portable documents. The best thing about the tool is that you can possibly import the EPS / PS which is not provided in much of the new tools and that too on a open source platform. Basically you might does need a very advance tool that can give you core level editing for the documents. That is really not required here. But this version of the read provides you some better improvements. The developer took the time to make some improvements in this new version including the publisher of historical, export PDF / CJK, the script and import plugins. I will also not emphasis on this tool that it is the best one and give you full support for all types of portable document format. Things are changing fast and not most of the operating systems comes with integrated support for such thing. A user saves his time for running on different websites and downloading tons of software to run his one file. I found most of the new operating system provides support for many files in the updates.

[Orion lella]

Operating systems designed on open source platform are today capable of competing with the commercial products. I have Ubuntu system which I am using for more than a year. I work on that a subsidiary machine and the system works quiet nicely. Now it is easy to find out how to simply edit the famous PDF files that you might aware that it was not editable. The PDF format is a very useful and very used, because it contains in one file, all data needed to read the document: image, font, hyperlink, etc. Therefore it is playable on any gateway without having to add anything. Also, this format is relatively light and therefore promotes Internet transmission. Hence the large number of administrative documents sent as PDF. I am using right now PDF Editor which is just a nice software. Like all other pdf software this tool is also very easy to use and gives out each and every support you want. Like for example it is also possible to change the font and color of the text with the text select icon. Now some pdf tools lets you to copy the content to an office document. This tool lets you to copy plus you can move the selected content also. It is also possible to remove a paragraph in the middle of the document. If you had already worked on KDE you will find KPDF. KPDF is to my knowledge the most effective free software to read PDF files. It can perfectly replace Acrobat Reader in the vast majority of cases. Here I will recommend you to compare the different version of the pdf editor that you want. Like this software does not know a document to adjust the printable area. So in some cases, the edges of the documents are truncated. In comparison to Adobe this software cannot handle png transparency. This can cause display problems if the document includes, but is still very rare. The one thing I found lack in this software is that you cannot rotate the document simply. It does not properly handle the characters and smoothing curves. So you must first ensure such points and then only choose a proper editor.