[PLUG] Good PDF Editor

Tim Wescott tim at wescottdesign.com
Wed Jun 1 15:27:04 UTC 2011


On 05/31/2011 10:52 PM, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> On Tue, 31 May 2011 21:20:18 -0700
> Tim Wescott<tim at wescottdesign.com>  dijo:
>
>> On 05/26/2011 04:53 PM, John Jason Jordan wrote:
>>> On Thu, 26 May 2011 16:41:47 -0700
>>> Mark Phillips<mark at phillipsmarketing.biz>   dijo:
>>>
>>>> I have found Scribus to be the best. It is not a pdf editor per se,
>>>> but if you want to add information to a pdf file, you bring the pdf
>>>> in as an image then insert text fields in the places you want to add
>>>> text. Can also add graphics, or make drawings, etc. Then export as a
>>>> pdf and it is all there in one pdf. Works well for filling out
>>>> forms, signing pdfs, etc. I never could get pdfedit to work for me,
>>>> and gimp is harder to deal with than Scribus. It is in the Debian
>>>> repository, so I assume it is in others.
>>> Scribus is what I used to use until I found xournal. You open the
>>> PDF in xournal, then you can add text, lines, objects and shading,
>>> among a few other things. You can save it as an xournal file, or as
>>> a new PDF. And xournal pays little attention to restrictions in the
>>> original PDF file. It's just a simple little light applet that works
>>> perfectly for filling out PDF forms, whether the PDF was created to
>>> be editable or not.
>> You add objects as in graphics?  I can't see how to do this.  (xournal
>> 0.4.5, on Ubuntu 8.04).
> No, xournal cannot add graphics. You can make your own "graphics" with
> xournal - shapes, lines, etc. But you cannot import graphics from
> outside. Xournal is mostly designed for markup. If you have a form to
> fill out that the creator stupidly did not make as an editable PDF
> xournal lets you enter text boxes over the blanks. You can also
> highlight and a few other things. But it can only add its own native
> objects.
I can stop looking, then.
> If I need to add a graphic on top of a PDF I use Scribus. There may be
> other, simpler tools that will do so, but since I know Scribus it's
> simpler for the rare times I need to add a graphic to a PDF.
>
> And note that neither xournal nor Scribus can actually edit the PDF.
> All they can do is open the PDF and let you place things on top of the
> PDF, then resave as a new PDF.
That part is OK -- I'm electronically replicating the "print it out, 
sign it, scan it in, email it" routine with new contracts.  All I need 
in the end is a facsimile of the original document with my signature 
attached, that I can email to a client.

-- 
Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
Voice: 503-631-7815
Cell:  503-349-8432
http://www.wescottdesign.com





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