Tools to edit PDF files
I am a translator!
I am looking for graphic tools to do some very simple editing on PDF files, like adding text, reorganizing pages, changing paper size. I know LibreOffice converts them to graphics file but most often, the layout is seriously affected during that operation, which makes this unusable.
I used the following tools so far:
- okular: I manage to add text but okular calls this "a note", which made me wonder whether it would go the final pdf and print, I found it does. So this works but it is not terribly intuitive, unless I misunderstand. In okular, I found no way to change the paper size or rearrange pages.
- pdfarranger: graphic tool to move and rotate pages and take pages from multiple documents
- pdfposter: command line tool that can change the paper size
Is there any easy to use graphic tool to do that, which I could recommend for people having to deal with such things?
Xournal++ can annotate PDFs, draw on them, etc. and export to that format. It is great, especially with a graphics tablet: https://xournalpp.github.io
The latest version for Trisquel 10: https://github.com/xournalpp/xournalpp/releases/download/v1.1.2/xournalpp-1.1.2-Ubuntu-focal-x86_64.deb
I am a translator!
Thanks, it looks much more convient than okular. I have not found out yet how to change the paper size for a PDF, will search more.
I doubt that feature exists in Xournal++, which mostly aims to take notes, including on top of an existing PDF.
Long time ago I used to use Ghostscript,
gs \
-o output-usletter.pdf \
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
-dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook \
-sPAPERSIZE=letter \
-dFIXEDMEDIA \
-dPDFFitPage \
-dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 \
input-non-usletter.pdf
Where papersize is the final paper size of the pages on the document.
Cheers!
>"I have not found out yet how to change the paper size for a PDF, will search more."
To change paper size I always just print it to a new PDF, with the new PDF being the paper size that I want.
Nice tip.
I would add that the 'Fit to Printable Area' option may help.
Yes, you have to get used to the different print dialog box options for the different printers and programs. 'Fit to Printable Area' is always an option to look for when printing to PDF to resize.
I am a translator!
I had tried that with okular, the generated PDF looks like the fonts were changed to bitmaps that are not good looking at all when zooming.
I tried again with atril, this problem does not occur, the generated PDF is fine.
I don't know whether this problem can be fixed in okular by some settings.
Okular seems to have had a hard time dealing with scaling options:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=761487#48
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=336617
Else, I guess you need to follow andyprough's advice and explore the print dialog box options. I am currently using the official document viewer of MATE, which is Atril, and on which the relevant settings are to be found in the last tab of the print dialog box.
I am a translator!
> I am currently using the official document viewer of MATE, which is Atril
I regularly receive PDF files which are forms that I am asked to fill and then send back or/and print. To do that, the only solution with graphic tools I know is to use Okular or Xournal++ to add text and save to a PDF, then open the saved PDF with Atril to change the paper size. Do you know a tool that can do all that and doesn't have scaling issue when changing paper size?