Today, I’m going to share my knowledge with you on a topic I’ve recently been actively researching. Pdf tools and software has unfortunately become a hot topic of discussion lately due to the release of invasive surveillance software by law enforcement agencies. Everyone should be made aware that they have options in creating, editing and publishing their pdf files to prevent themselves from being targets. In this article, I will introduce 5 best pdf tools for linux. Nowadays, there are many good quality linux distributions used by majority of peoples and also most of the people are using Linux as a server platform too. Therefore, we should give best linux pdf tools for them and for everyone to use freely. In fact, these Linux pdf tools are not only for Linux but also it can be used on Windows opertating system as well because we all have reason to create or edit a PDF file at some time or other: sharing a contract with our business partner or client is one obvious example.
The importance of reading information digitally has been growing drastically each day. This has led to an increased need for software that can make your documents digital so you can read it throughout the digital platform of your choice. Linux free pdf tools are an important tool to make use of when making your documents digital. This article will discuss a few important features that you should consider before picking a software to make your documents pdf on linux
Best Linux PDF editor – Master PDF Editor & PDF Studio (commercial). Best free and paid Linux PDF editor programs. If you are looking for a PDF editor that is not just compatible with Linux, but also helps in editing the images inside your PDF files, then Master PDF editor is the right tool for you. Available For: Ubuntu Canonical publishes Multiarch specs which provide full support for foreign binary software on the Ubuntu operating system. This specification allows to build software with the libraries support of cross compilation. Checkout specific guide to install MasterPDFeditor in Ubuntu from here
Master PDF Editor is one of the best free Linux PDF editor application. It also provides a lot of professional features as well. The most intuitive feature is, it comes with a simple, easy to use and user-friendly graphical interface. It allows you to create, edit and encrypt PDF files
Best PDF content editors for Linux
The below tools allow you to edit the PDF content, including annotate, highlight, modify text, add or remove images, etc, in Linux.
LibreOffice Draw
Beginner or experienced, there is no such Linux user who hasn’t heard the name LibreOffice. Most of the resources on the internet mention that LibreOffice is the best alternative to Microsoft Office on any operating system. But does it have what you need for editing PDFs on your Linux machine?
Enter LibreOffice Draw. Although originally a 3D vector graphics editing tool, users can use the application to edit PDF files as well. While downloading a full-fledged PDF editor might be a better choice for some, LibreOffice Draw still provides decent tools and functionalities that support PDF editing.
A user can edit the text, add new images, and modify page alignment using LibreOffice Draw. To use Draw on your Linux machine, you will have to download the complete LibreOffice Suite.
To install LibreOffice on Debian-based distros, first add the official LibreOffice PPA.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppaThen, update your system’s repository list and download the package.
sudo apt update
sudo apt install libreofficeTo install on Arch-based distributions:
sudo pacman -S libreofficeAlternatively, you can download the package manually from the LibreOffice website.
Qoppa PDF Studio
Qoppa PDF Studio is built for PDF editing, period. It consists of all the necessary tools and utilities that you might need while modifying PDF files on your system. You can use this application to edit text, shapes, and properties of the content in the file.
PDF Studio ships with the following features.
- Edit text content and its properties
- Modify images (resize, relocate, etc.)
- Edit shapes and path objects
- Add notes, freehand drawings, hyperlinks, headers, and footers
- Side-by-side comparison of two files
- Optimize PDF file to reduce the size
The major drawback to using Qoppa PDF Studio is that since it is a commercial application, some features of the software are only available in the paid subscription. Although you can try the full version as a trial for free, it still doesn’t fill the gap.
However, for professional editors who edit PDFs on a daily basis, Qoppa PDF Studio is the most recommended application on the list.
To install Qoppa PDF Studio on Linux, download the installation script from the official website and execute it from your terminal.
sh ./PDFStudio_linux.sh
sh ./PDFStudio_linux64.shDon’t forget to make the file executable first using the chmod command.
sudo chmod +x PDFStudio_linux.sh
sudo chmod +x PDFStudio_linux64.shInkscape
If you’re into vector and graphics editing, you probably know about Inkscape already. A free and open-source application, Inkscape is preferred by professional graphic designers around the world.
Inkscape is quite similar to LibreOffice Draw, both being vector graphics software, much like Adobe Illustrator.
But when it comes to PDF editing, Inkscape doesn’t fade into the crowd. In fact, it allows a user to edit PDF files with ease. You can use almost all the tools provided while editing PDFs. Adding a signature, inserting an image, and removing text are some of the tasks that you can perform using Inkscape.
The only drawback to using Inkscape for PDF editing is that it forces you to import the files page by page. That means you can only edit one page at a time using the application.
You can install Inkscape on Debian-based distributions using snap.
sudo snap install inkscapeOn Arch-based distros:
sudo pacman inkscapeOkular
Key Features:
- Different annotation options as part of its review feature
- Cross-platform
Okular is a popular free and open source document viewer developed by KDE which includes basic PDF editing features.
Once you open a PDF file in Okular, you can copy a part of the text to the clipboard by selecting it, or save it as an image.
You can navigate your way through Tools > Reviews menu to get other options like adding pop-ups notes, inline notes, freehand line drawing, highlighter, stamp and other features.
Okular can pretty much handle your basic PDF editing tasks, however, for advanced editing, it may not be that much useful.
How to install Okular?
Okular is available in the software repository of almost all major Linux distributions. You can install it from your software center.
In either case, you can also build it from source through KDE’s website.
Scribus
Key Features:
- Highlight text content
- Add text boxes and other elements
- Move the existing text of a PDF file to re-position it or delete it
Scribus isn’t exactly a PDF editor — but it offers the necessary features to highlight, add content, and a few more things in a PDF file.
It is a useful open-source desktop publishing tool which you can use to make advertisement posters, and write books among other things. For PDF editing, you can surely use it to highlight the text, move the text, add texts, and other objects to improve the PDF file.
Also, it’s a cross-platform open-source tool which makes it even more interesting.
How to install Scribus?
You should find it listed in your software center to easily get it installed. In either case, you can also opt for the Flatpak package available.
I’d suggest going through our Flatpak guide if you don’t know about it.
Also, you can check out its official download page for more options for FreeBSD, macOS, Windows, and others.
PDF escape
If you are one of those people who think downloading software is a waste of time and are looking for a quick solution to editing your PDF documents, then PDFescape is the choice for you. It is a web based tool that enables you to edit documents inside your web browser without any installation or downloads.
But because it is a browser application, it has certain restrictions that are to be expected, such as the size of the document, page length, etc.
- Monetary Value: 5/5
- Ease of Installation: 5/5
- Functionality: 3/5
GIMP
GIMP is much much more than just a PDF editor. Yes, it provides basic editing options, but it is primarily an image manipulator. And if you want to use the PDF editor, you have to install it separately. And it also does not provide easy editing. You have to recompile the photo and then convert it into layers to edit it. And you can not edit more than one page at a time.
- Monetary Value: 3/5
- Ease of Installation: 2/5
- Functionality: 3/5
Apache OpenOffice Draw
Considered to be one of the best open source pdf editors, Apache open draw supports all major OS and allows for insertion of text, images, forms and much more with its highly effective software.
- Monetary Value: 5/5
- Ease of Installation: 4/5
- Functionality: 3.5/5
Foxit Reader
Foxit Reader is not a conventional pdf editor as it is a cloud based software that integrates the cloud into your pdf experience. Which means you can share your edited work with others. It also allows for encryption and password protection. You can even give and take access and actively promote collaboration and sharing. It is, however, extremely user friendly and supports all the required operating software. And it is free to use, making it an attractive option for tech heads.
- Monetary Value: 5/5
- Ease of Installation: 4.5/5
- Functionality: 3/5
Master PDF Editor
The “Master PDF Editor” is a comprehensive PDF program that contains a lot of functions. In addition to creating and editing PDF documents, the software also allows conversion to various formats. The “Master PDF Editor” is an extensive PDF suite since it offers you a host of useful functions for creating PDFs. Text, images, forms, buttons, check boxes and fillable forms are only a small part of the options available in “Master PDF Editor”.
The program also allows you to insert handwritten signatures under PDFs..
- Monetary Value: 5/5
- Ease of Installation: 4.5/5
- Functionality: 4.5/5
Special Mention
Before we wrap up, we saw it fit to make a special mention of the following free online PDF editors that provide immense flexibility in editing your PDF documents.
Whereas free, be reminded that they have limits for the number of documents and file sizes that you can upload, beyond which you will have to part with a few dollars.
- Sejda PDF Editor
- PDF Simpli
- PDF Escape
Conclusion
PDF documents have become an integral part of daily office and personal lives. They are everywhere and have replaced document files such as the old common word processor formats like Word and Text. Using PDF format got easier when more applications have been designed to use them. Readers can be installed on several devices like computers, laptops, tablet PCs, e-readers, mobile phones, etc. PDF is one of the most popular types of files.
Since few decades, Linux has been ruling the World of Internet and Computers because of its open source technology and undeniable benefits. But this operating system provides all its users with a pre-installed text editor (often called Notepad) which does not give the desired performance when users need to type some text. For reading and writing PDF files, users frequently require some advanced tool, especially if they want to do all of these works successfully and quickly. The best PDF tools linux are software that allows in writing text and editing documents such as PDF in efficient manner by offering various tools.