Issues filling forms in PDFs

Nisaea, 4 months ago

Foxit still provides a free version that’s linux compatible. Its been a lifesaver at work to do document signing without messing everything up. It may take a little tweaking to run, but it’s worth a try for forms.

Jtskywalker, 4 months ago

Oh sweet! I haven’t heard of that one. I’ll check it out

tsonfeir, 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago)

This isn’t a gui solution and probably is way off from your intentions, but you could use pdftk to dump the fillable field name and pdftk again to populate them with an xfdf file.

edit, I got interested:

<span style="color:#323232;">#!/bin/bash
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;"># Check for required arguments
</span><span style="color:#323232;">if [ $# -ne 2 ]; then
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    echo "Usage: $0 <source-pdf> <destination-pdf>"
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    exit 1
</span><span style="color:#323232;">fi
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">SOURCE_PDF=$1
</span><span style="color:#323232;">DEST_PDF=$2
</span><span style="color:#323232;">XFDF_FILE=tmp.xfdf
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;"># Extract form field names
</span><span style="color:#323232;">FIELD_NAMES=$(pdftk "$SOURCE_PDF" dump_data_fields | grep "FieldName:" | cut -d ' ' -f2-)
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;"># Start XFDF file
</span><span style="color:#323232;">echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>' > $XFDF_FILE
</span><span style="color:#323232;">echo '<xfdf xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/xfdf/">' >> $XFDF_FILE
</span><span style="color:#323232;">echo '<fields>' >> $XFDF_FILE
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;"># Prompt for user input for each field
</span><span style="color:#323232;">for FIELD in $FIELD_NAMES; do
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    read -p "$FIELD: " INPUT
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    echo "<field name="$FIELD"><value>$INPUT</value></field>" >> $XFDF_FILE
</span><span style="color:#323232;">done
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;"># Close XFDF file
</span><span style="color:#323232;">echo '</fields>' >> $XFDF_FILE
</span><span style="color:#323232;">echo '</xfdf>' >> $XFDF_FILE
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;"># Populate the PDF form
</span><span style="color:#323232;">pdftk "$SOURCE_PDF" fill_form $XFDF_FILE output "$DEST_PDF"
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;"># Clean up
</span><span style="color:#323232;">rm $XFDF_FILE
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">echo "PDF form filled and saved as $DEST_PDF"
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span>

pineapplelover, 4 months ago

Either firefox or libreoffice draw

Jtskywalker, 4 months ago

Draw is great, and I’ve been able to use it for most of what I used Acrobat for before, but it has issues with converting certain documents, especially when they have special fonts. Also there’s the issue of not being able to just fill out some fields and then share it back as a PDF

paradox2011, 4 months ago

I’ve been looking for a decent PDF editor on Linux for years. Like you said, there are plenty that will basically work, but I always have issues with font mishandling.

So far I’ve just settled on using a windows VM with adobe for editing PDFs (along with one other windows only program that I need.) There is a way to get Adobe PDF software working in linux, but I haven’t tried it.

If you need to sign PDFs, xournal++ is an excellent app for applying a saved signature as a stamp.

shreddy_scientist, 4 months ago

I just screenshot the PDF in fullscreen and then use kolour paint to add in text, it’s worked well for me.

losttourist, 4 months ago

Not really a viable solution for many scenarios though. What if your PDF has half a dozen pages, your answer becomes really tedious. And in a lot of cases a PDF with forms is expected to be sent back to the person or company that created it once the fields have been filled in. They're not likely to want to receive a bunch of JPEG screenshots instead.

BuckShot686, 4 months ago

Just paste the images into a word processor then convert them to a PDF, this at least keeps the PDF instead of JPEGs.

JoMiran, 4 months ago

I do a lot of PDF work which requires edits, encryption, etc. Unfortunately the only solution I found that worked for me was a paid one. I use Code Industry’s Master PDF Editor.

lapislazuli, 4 months ago

My upvote goes to Master PDF Editor as well. Only PDF reader/editor that can do annotations and notes sufficiently well, in my very personal opinion.

Jtskywalker, 4 months ago

I’m not opposed to paying for software, especially if it’s good. I’ll try that out and see how it is. Thanks!

shortdorkyasian, 4 months ago

I’ve been a user of Master PDF for years now. It’s my go-to for PDF markup in Linux. Their yearly renewal can be kinda wonky, but their customer service has been excellent.