Best PDF editors for Linux 1. LibreOffice Draw. These days most Linux operating system comes with LibreOffice pre-installed. If you don’t have LibreOffice Draw in your Linux, then download it from software centre. With the help of LibreOffice Draw, we can import and edit PDF files. With this, Linux users can make necessary changes on PDF documents for their research works as well as business correspondence. In this article, I will review the top 3 Linux PDF editor in order to help you pick the best. If you want a PDF editor for Mac and Windows, please try PDFelement Pro. The 6 Best Markdown Editors For Linux. Markdown is quickly becoming the way most people write posts online. The reason it is becoming so popular is that it allows users to generate complex, formatted text without trying that hard. Thanks to the rise of markdown editors, this process is very streamlined. Each platform has a pretty good selection of markdown text editors, including Linux.

1. Pdfescape
2. Foxit Pdf Editor
3. Master Pdf Editor Review

The Linux learning curve9 Questions New Linux Users Always Ask9 Questions New Linux Users Always AskIt's completely normal to feel overwhelmed when making the switch to Linux. That's what happens when you step from one world into another. This will help you.Read More isn’t always easy, and one of the more common questions is “What’s the best PDF editor?” — especially among people who want to use Linux in a work-related capacity. And the good news is that the answer isn’t as murky as you might expect.

There are actually several ways to modify PDFs on a Linux system to differing degrees. You can pay for commercial-grade software and support5 Lies Linux-Haters Like To Tell5 Lies Linux-Haters Like To TellLinux may have been a scary operating system before, but all of that has changed in recent years. These myths, which are more accurately called lies, are now dead.Read More, or you can opt for one of the free alternatives. It’s up to you. We’re just here to show you what’s out there.

1. PDF Studio

PDF Studio is unique in that it’s the only paid software on this list, and while that tends to go against the whole “Linux is free” philosophyWhat Is Open Source Software? [MakeUseOf Explains]What Is Open Source Software? [MakeUseOf Explains]'Open source' is a term that’s thrown around a lot these days. You may know that certain things are open source, like Linux and Android, but do you know what it entails? What is open..Read More, it means that you get a high-quality product that the developers care to polish — and it shows.

PDF Studio comes in two versions. The Standard version costs $89 and has several basic features, including but not limited to the following:

• Creating PDFs from any text file, image file, or Word document. Also supports the ability to scan papers as PDF files.
• Annotating and commenting on PDF documents.
• Marking and highlighting of text.
• Filling out PDF forms, but not editing text.
• Documents can be split apart or merged together, and they can be secured with passwords and permission settings.

On the other hand, the Pro version costs $129 and has more advanced features, including but not limited to the following:

• Editing of text, images, and shapes.
• Extracting text from images through OCRThe 5 Best OCR Tools for Extracting Text from ImagesThe 5 Best OCR Tools for Extracting Text from ImagesWhen you have reams of paper, how do you get all that printed text converted into something that a digital program will be able to recognize and index? Keep a good OCR software close by.Read More.
• Creating PDF forms with an interactive form designer.
• Optimizing document sizes.
• Signing documents digitally.
• Batch processing of multiple PDFs at once.

It’s a shame that content editing is only available in the Pro version, but it is what it is. PDF Studio is truly a complete solution and only worth getting if you’re going to use most of what it offers. Both versions have free trials, so give them a personal try.

2. Master PDF Editor

Like PDF Studio, Master PDF Editor aims to be a complete all-in-one solution for your PDF editing needs, but it has one major advantage: at nearly half the price, Master PDF Editor is way more affordable.

But does that mean reduced quality? Not necessarily. For most users, Master PDF Editor is probably more than good enough. Notable features include but aren’t limited to:

• Full editing of all text, images, and forms.
• Protection of documents with 128-bit encryption.
• The ability to convert XPS files into PDF files.
• Exporting of PDFs into common image formats, like BMP, JPG, PNG, and even TIFF.
• Documents can be split apart or merged together.
• Digital signatures and document signing.

The price tag is $50 for the full edition. You won’t find a reduced-price version with crippled features here. Master PDF Editor is all or nothing, but does provide an evaluation trial to see if the program is right for you before you commit to a purchase.

3. Calibre + LibreOffice

This method doesn’t involve an actual PDF editor, but it does produce results. It definitely has its flaws, but as long as you’re willing to work around them, you can have a powerful PDF-editing workflow that doesn’t cost anything.

Basically, you can use the Calibre ebook managerHow To Manage Your Ebook Collection For The Amazon Kindle With CalibreHow To Manage Your Ebook Collection For The Amazon Kindle With CalibreThe biggest problem with an eReader like the Amazon's Kindle is that it requires unreasonable effort to move books between different devices. Before Kindle, I fell in love with Calibre. A bit on the heavy..Read More on Linux to convert PDF documents into rich text documents (RTF). Here’s how to do that:

1. Add the PDF document to your Calibre library.
2. Right-click the PDF and select Convert Books > Convert Individually.
3. In the conversion window, make sure the Output Format is set to RTF.
4. Click OK to commence conversion.

Once you have the RTF document, open it in LibreOffice and edit it to your heart’s pleasure. This method works well enough for basic editing of text and images, but obviously fumbles when you want to do more advanced work, like validation forms, dynamic XFA forms, digital signatures, or interactive PDFsHow to Create an Interactive PDFHow to Create an Interactive PDFInteractive PDFs allow you to add video, audio, hyperlinks, and more into your documents. Here's how to create one using Adobe InDesign.Read More.

Fortunately, for tasks like splitting/merging PDFs, OCR text extraction, or secure password protection, you can always incorporate one of many free online PDF tools7 Free Online PDF Tools That Could Save You A Lot Of Work7 Free Online PDF Tools That Could Save You A Lot Of WorkThe Web is full of awesome little tools that can help you alter PDF files without breaking a sweat. Let's look at lesser known PDF tasks that may come in handy for you.Read More into your workflow. When the RTF editing is done, just go through the same steps to convert it back into PDF.

4. Scribus

If your PDF-editing needs are more visual-oriented rather than simple text and images, then you may actually want to use Scribus instead of the Calibre + LibreOffice method above.

Scribus is an open-source program that’s built for professional desktop publishing, which includes things like brochures, newsletters, or even books. It’s not a strictly PDF-based editor, but it’s great for “layout” work and can consistently export to PDF with ease.

What’s nice about Scribus is that it can import files that were created in other desktop publishing formats, such as Adobe InDesign and Microsoft Publisher, as well as XPS (which is Microsoft’s alternative to the PDF format).

Scribus is completely free to use, but there are two downsides. The first is that it can’t seem to open all PDF files. Again, since it isn’t exactly a PDF editor, that can be forgiven, but you should be aware that it’s rather picky about the kinds of PDFs it will open.

The second is that it has a bit of a learning curve. The program itself is somewhat intuitively laid out, but there’s no community presence except for an incomplete wiki, so you might have trouble finding tutorials and support when you run into problems.

5. GIMP

Did you know that GIMP can work in a pinch as a PDF editor? We don’t really recommend it if you’re going to be doing a large volume of serious work, but for one-off edits and basic changes, it actually works better than you might expect it to.

The editing process is rather straightforward:

1. Launch GIMP and open any PDF file. (Note that GIMP doesn’t make it easy to edit multiple pages since each page gets loaded in a separate layer.)
2. Edit the document as you see fit. You can’t edit text directly, but if you treat the document like an image, it’s simple enough to shift things around, erase bits, and add your own text.
3. Select File > Export As… and export the document in PDF format. Unfortunately, GIMP only exports what it “sees”, so you’ll have to export each layer as individual PDFs, then merge them together with another tool.

Like Scribus, GIMP is really more for visual-oriented PDFs, but it can also work for simple PDFs that only have one or two pages and not a lot of text. Advanced documents, like interactive PDFs, are off the table though.

Which Method Do You Prefer?

As you can see, PDF editing on Linux isn’t as clear-cut as on Windows or Mac unless you use one of the paid tools. The free alternatives can work, but they each have their own quirks that make them a pain in their own unique ways.

If you’re a newbie to Linux, be sure to live by these golden rules5 Golden Rules to Live By as a New Linux User5 Golden Rules to Live By as a New Linux UserHow do you ensure that your transition to the new OS is smooth? Stick to the following five rules and you should do just fine.Read More for the best possible experience. You’ll also want to check out these tips for Linux newbies7 Neat Linux Tricks That Newbies Need to Know7 Neat Linux Tricks That Newbies Need to KnowAs a Linux newbie, it's normal to struggle. Everything just feels so different from Windows and you find yourself scratching your head at the simplest of tasks.Read More and these commonly-asked Linux questionsConsidering Linux? 10 Common Questions AnsweredConsidering Linux? 10 Common Questions AnsweredHere are the most common questions that Windows users have about Linux. After going through this list of questions and answers, you should feel much more confident with trying out Linux.Read More as well.

Do you edit PDFs on Linux a lot? Which tool do you like using the best? Know of any alternatives we missed? Let us know in the comments below!

Image Credits:penguin writing by Asfia via Shutterstock

Explore more about: Linux, PDF, PDF Editor.

1. I use foxit reader through wine and except for some random crash it’s quite good.

2. The master pdf editor (#2 above) has a free for non-commercial use version now (since article was originally published circa 2015 apparently). I just tried it for some IRS required forms for this years taxes.. Highly recommended. The deb file does not install to the desktop menu (at least lxde menu anyway). You will have to configure your gui menu yourself very likely. Full version is still a great bargain too.

3. For a simple pdf form, I used libreoffice draw. It worked for me very well.
   First, open the pdf with libreoffice draw then fill the form and finally export as pdf.

   Dvdvideosoft free youtube download premium crack. Youtube Downloader Pro 4.8.7 (YTD) Crack for Life TimeThe application has very simple and user friendly interface. Its name is Youtube Downloader Pro but it can download videos from, and many more video sharing websites. There is a list tab in which we can videos list that we grabbed from website. You can download any video in its required format. Not such as download a video and convert it according to our device or need.

4. Will bring my old windows pc tomorrow. I tried 3. and 5. to simply fill a 6-page form, but it didn't work and I lost that time. (Perhaps 1. and 2. work, but I don't want to spend.)

5. A bit late, but if somebody still reads this I have a question:

   I am looking for a solution to scan lots of documents to PDF, at best including ocr, in a way that the document still looks like the original but includes the actual text. Since I switched from Mac to Linux a few years ago I have been looking for something like that as an open source solution, but I found none that was really satisfying enough. Sometimes the amount of text extracted was just horribly bad, at other times it was *only* the text (loosing the document-structure), the resulting PDFs were far too big or the whole process to get what I wanted was far too convoluted to be usable for more than just a few documents.

   So my main question is if one of the above-mentioned paid solutions can do that comfortably. I'd be happy to know about a *simple* free solution too (although I doubt there is one in the open source area, as I've said I tried out all I could find).

   • Linux lacks good open source OCR software (tesseract and cuneiform are possibly somewhat acceptable). However the Windows versions of ABBYY Finereader (at least versions 8 and 10) work great under Wine. The software is limited to 15 days of use - after that, you have to pay a license to ABBYY (though complete reinstallation under Wine may work after the delay, and further 'workarounds' can be found in various places ..) In any case, with 300 dpi scanned pages, the recognition rate is extremely good (like 99.9 % for plain text), one gets a *.rtf file that preserves most of the formatting, including tables and images. After correcting only a few errors per page, just export to PDF with LibreOffice. That's it !

     • Thanks, that sounds really good. Will take a look.

6. Foxit PDF is great for simple highlights and annotations. I've been using it at school for years. https://www.foxitsoftware.com/products/pdf-reader/

7. There also is smallpdf.

8. Or you can use Libre Office Draw to edit PDF files. Most files will work nicely and you can edit text, remove chunks of the page, change colors..

   • This solution is good enough for me. A big thanks! :-)

   • Actually bad idea, LO is notoriously lacking in PDF support, both in reading AND ESPECIALLY writing. If it works for your current usage, damn good, but otherwise I wouldn't bother until they fix more of those bugs.

   • #1 'the only commercial', #2 'half the price tag'. Something's wrong.

     • #1 only says 'the only paid'. And with #2's free-for-non-commercial-use version, it's mostly accurate.

9. Okular, the default PDF document viewer for the KDE desktop is free and has a lot of features such annotations, highlighting, underlining and drawing. You just have to press F6 and you get the entire menu with these options. It has the advantages of integrating well for KDE users (may be a bit off-putting for Gnome-GTK users but I have used it in ubuntu for years with no problems). It has a lot of features as all KDE applications.

Pdfescape

Portable Document Format – PDF is one of the popular and widely used file systems for emailing, sharing, and printing documents. For basic editing, you may need to install a suitable Linux pdf editor because Linux does not come with a default pdf editor. There are lots of options available when the question comes to editing pdf in Linux but the choice is very limited if you compare with adobe acrobat for windows and MacOS. That’s why here I have reviewed both free open source and paid Linux pdf editor for fulfilling the requirement of advanced and basic options.

Linux PDF Editor: Top 15 Reviewed

While writing the article, I have tested all the software on Ubuntu Linux and as this site is on basically Ubuntu, so here I will be sharing the install method for Ubuntu. But all those Linux pdf editors are similarly applicable for other Linux derivatives.

1. Inkscape

Inkscape is a professional vector graphics editor for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It’s free and open source and used by graphic design professionals all over the world. If you are a graphics designer and need to edit any pdf documents, just don’t go anywhere. Inkscape can also do the task of pdf editing. It can import the pdf files and let you edit that accurately.

Method 1: Install Inkscape on Ubuntu via PPA

Uninstall Inkscape From Ubuntu

Method 2: Inkscape Snap Package

2. LibreOffice Draw

LibreOffice Draw is one of the best free and open source pdf editor for Linux. This Ubuntu pdf editor provides a set of tools for editing pdf documents in a limited way. It will fulfill your limited and basic documents editing mostly text editing.

3. Qoppa PDF Studio

Qoppa PDF Studio is a commercial Linux pdf editor but it has all the necessary tools and features that can easily fulfill the requirement of editing, viewing or creating pdf documents. There are many features available but worth mentioning are edit text contents and properties, shapes and path objects, move and resize images, Add sticky notes, text box, interactive form designer, apply headers, footers, watermarks etc.

4. Okular

Okular is completely free and open source pdf editor for KDE system. It also comes with basic pdf editing features. Most mentionable features are inline notes, freehand line drawing, stamp, pop-ups notes, highlighter etc.

5. Master PDF Editor

Master pdf editor is the most popular and featured rich commercial Linux pdf editor available in the market. You can do almost everything ranging from creating and editing a pdf file to signature handling and editing scanned documents. It provides a wide range of features including add or edit text, images, notes into the pdf documents, offers powerful annotation tools, ability to edit pdf forms etc.

Though Master PDF Editor is a proprietary application, still you can do some basic task by using the free version. But digital signatures, encryption, and watermarks are not available in the free version.

Foxit Pdf Editor

6. PDF Chain

PDF Chain is a simple but powerful application which is a GUI for the PDF Toolkit (PDFtk). It can add backgrounds, stamps, or edit the PDF info, or dump the form data in a PDF etc.

Master Pdf Editor Review

7. Scribus

Though Scribus is a publishing software for Windows, Linux, and MacOS, still you can edit pdf files with it. Scribus supports basic pdf editing like create PDF files, lists, add controls and other form features. With the help of Scribus, you can make animated and interactive pdf documents.

Method 1: Install Scribus on Ubuntu via PPA

Method 2: Download Stable Branch

Download from Official siteDownload from SourceForge

8. PDF-Shuffler

PDF-shuffler is a simple and easy to use Linux pdf editor available out there. It’s a python-gtk software which helps you to split or merge pdf documents and rotate, crop and rearrange the pages using an intuitive and interactive GUI.

9. GIMP

Gimp is very powerful image editor and the best alternative to Adobe Photoshop for Linux system. It comes with lots of interactive tools that help the user to make amazing image layers. Moreover, you can also import pdf file and edit it as a layer. Though you can only do the basic pdf editing. Here I am going to share with you how to install GIMP on Ubuntu:

Method 1: Install Gimp on Ubuntu via CLI

Method 2: Download from Official site

10. PDF Escape

PDF Escape is not a full-fledged software but browser-based pdf editing tool. So you don’t need to download or install anything, just drag your pdf files “Drop Here” section, upload and you can create PDF files, add annotation and set the password to protect a PDF file.

11. Evince

Evince is more like Linux pdf viewer than a full-fledged pdf editor. It comes with inbuilt on Gnome desktop environment and supports PDF, tiff, XPS, Postscript and many more. It has many features including document indexing and printing, search tools, encrypted document viewing, and many more.

Method 1: Install on Ubuntu via CLI

Method 2: Download from Official site

12. Foxit Reader

Foxit Reader is a multiplatform pdf viewer and editing tools for all the major OS including Linux, Windows, and MacOS. It’s a fast, secure and easy to use Linux pdf editor which offers some basic pdf editing tools.

13. Apache OpenOffice Draw

Apache OpenOffice Draw is one of the best open source pdf editors like LibreOffice Draw. You can use it for both Linux pdf editor and viewer. It supports all the major OS platform like Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can insert images, text forms field and more using this open source PDF editor.

14. PDFedit

PDFedit is a free and open source pdf editor and viewer for Linux. This Linux pdf editor is based on QT3.x that offers a GUI. You can add text, images into pdf files, and also can delete any particular section of information.

15. PDFsam–PDF Split and Merge

PDFsam is also a free and open source pdf editor for Windows, Mac, Linux and any other operating system that supports Java. It provides some basic tools for editing pdf documents like PDF split, merges, mixes, extract pages and rotates PDF files.

There are lots of Linux pdf editors available in the market including free and paid version. If you just want basic editing features, you can use one of the free and open source pdf editors or be an advanced user, just grab a commercial version which offers featured rich editing capabilities.

Did we miss any important and amazing Linux PDF Editor in this list? Please feel free to suggest any open source pdf editor that you know and we will enlist that in the content soon.

Note: For clarification, these applications are not listed in any specific order and the features mentioned here are not all-inclusive. The features mentioned are compiled either from their respective official websites or from my personal experience using them.