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 😂

18 points

https://github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF

I put one in at work. It sat idle for a while until a member of my admin staff asked me how to do a job involving pay slips. We discovered the pipeline tool in Stirling. It is now a permanent system with an SLA!

Each tool has a nice big icon or you can create desktop or browser shortcuts to the ones of interest - ideal for keeping it simple.

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2 points

Scribus has really good PDF support. It’s a full desktop publishing program (like InDesign), so it might not be the best for quick conversions. It does a really good job of PDF forms though.

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2 points

I’ve used PDF4QT before.
Didn’t get very in depth, but Rotating and Organizing pages worked.

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2 points
*

Okular for forms. qpdf just for quick viewing and reading. PDF arranger for rearranging pages. pdftk (CLI) for some serious work on PDFs. Exiftool and qpdf (both CLIs) for metadata and linearizing.

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60 points

I use PDF Arranger a lot for that

https://github.com/pdfarranger/pdfarranger

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25 points

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.

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2 points

For edits whithin a page, I use inkscape. Both program combined have covered all my needs until now.

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1 point

Or libreoffice draw sometimes, it depends, but yes, pdfarranger + one of the two is enough for most of the tasks.

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