7 ms·

Out of curiosity what do you (or anyone else who wants to chime in) use for filling PDF forms? Adobe is about the only reason I still dual boot Windows alongs

by randlet 10y ago

Out of curiosity what do you (or anyone else who wants to chime in) use for filling PDF forms? Adobe is about the only reason I still dual boot Windows alongside Linux :/

lamlam 10y ago
Google Chrome added that feature at some point recently. You can fill in forms you open through it. And it's a very good experience. Chromium possibly does it do, have not tested tho.
- Insanity 10y ago
  I can confirm that it works on Chromium with this test file: http://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/feature-details/acrobat/axi/pdfs/create-forms-sample.pdf http://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/feature-deta...
benjaminjackman 10y ago
I honestly can't remember the last time I have had to do that. One idea would be to try installing Adobe via wine if you can't find a native program.
crazy2be 10y ago
You can install adobe reader on Linux. On Ubuntu it's acroread from package adobereader-enu. Although sometimes you can use Chrome (or evince, or okular), occasionally Adobe Reader is the only one that can fill forms properly.
- kleiba 10y ago
  But Adobe does not officially support Linux any more so you won't get updates. I've had some success with running current Adobe Reader in wine but trying to print makes the program crash, so there you have it.
LarryMade2 10y ago
I fill in tax forms with adobe 9, if no that I think the new acrobat compatibles for Linux are getting better at forms now
bennnnnnn 10y ago
Foxit PDF Reader is available on linux, some cool features including form filling I think
manaskarekar 10y ago
Atril works well. Atril is what Evince used to be before it regressed in usability.
- platz 10y ago
  what you like about atril over evince? it looks similar but with slightly less features and not any greater speed at loading PDFs?
  - lottin 10y ago
    Basically atril is evince minus the Gnomish UI, which a lot of people hate.
XorNot 10y ago
uPdf is nice. Linux actually has a whole ton of pdf manipulators which I find a lot easier to use for most common tasks then Adobe (or which actually do things you can't do with reader).
shanemhansen 10y ago
To be honest I don't remember the last time I filled out a PDF form. Every form I've had to work with in the last 5 years was either fully online (docusign) or required me to print it out and sign it.
cookiecaper 10y ago
I always liked Okular, but it seems external PDF readers are less and less necessary for simple work. Really only needed for reading lengthy documents now (50+ pgs.).
herbst 10y ago
Last time i did that about 6 years ago i opened it with gimp and drew over it
rocky1138 10y ago
Okular
- dotancohen 10y ago
  Okular is by far the best PDF app on any platform. It supports annotations, margin trimming, overriding colors and other accessibility options. For heavy PDF users, Okular alone is worth the switch to Linux and KDE.
hedora 10y ago
evince. It is the default PDF viewer in gnome, I think.
leni536 10y ago
qpdfview
vog 10y ago
Nowadays almost all popular PDF readers can fill in PDF forms: Evince, Okular, and so on. Heck, you can even create PDF forms entirely with Free Software, using LibreOffice / OpenOffice. And don't forget PDF.JS of Firefox, which enables you to view and edit most PDF forms directly in your browser. However, it still has issues with some PDF documents, so I prefer Evince and Okular. The still-common advice to install Adobe Acrobat Reader is outdated! And it has been outdated for years. In fact, some time ago the FSFE started a (still successful) campaign to convince public entities to no longer tell people to download Acrobat whenever they offer a PDF file. With public entities you can argue that they advertise Adobe without getting paid for that, that they ignore the fact that PDF is an Open Standard, and that they put the plethora of good PDF readers into disadvantage. Instead, most of these public entities now point to a community-driven overview of Free Software PDF readers: https://pdfreaders.org/pdfreaders.en.html https://pdfreaders.org/pdfreaders.en.html But as mentioned before: As a Linux you don't need to worry about that, you almost certainly have already installed a good, free PDF viewer in the default installation.
NuDinNou 10y ago
Master PDF Editor or Chromium

by randlet 10y ago

Out of curiosity what do you (or anyone else who wants to chime in) use for filling PDF forms? Adobe is about the only reason I still dual boot Windows alongside Linux :/

lamlam 10y ago

Google Chrome added that feature at some point recently. You can fill in forms you open through it. And it's a very good experience. Chromium possibly does it do, have not tested tho.

Insanity 10y ago
I can confirm that it works on Chromium with this test file: http://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/feature-details/acrobat/axi/pdfs/create-forms-sample.pdf http://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/feature-deta...

benjaminjackman 10y ago

I honestly can't remember the last time I have had to do that. One idea would be to try installing Adobe via wine if you can't find a native program.

crazy2be 10y ago

You can install adobe reader on Linux. On Ubuntu it's acroread from package adobereader-enu. Although sometimes you can use Chrome (or evince, or okular), occasionally Adobe Reader is the only one that can fill forms properly.

kleiba 10y ago
But Adobe does not officially support Linux any more so you won't get updates. I've had some success with running current Adobe Reader in wine but trying to print makes the program crash, so there you have it.

LarryMade2 10y ago

I fill in tax forms with adobe 9, if no that I think the new acrobat compatibles for Linux are getting better at forms now

bennnnnnn 10y ago

Foxit PDF Reader is available on linux, some cool features including form filling I think

manaskarekar 10y ago

Atril works well. Atril is what Evince used to be before it regressed in usability.

platz 10y ago
what you like about atril over evince? it looks similar but with slightly less features and not any greater speed at loading PDFs?
- lottin 10y ago
  Basically atril is evince minus the Gnomish UI, which a lot of people hate.

XorNot 10y ago

uPdf is nice. Linux actually has a whole ton of pdf manipulators which I find a lot easier to use for most common tasks then Adobe (or which actually do things you can't do with reader).

shanemhansen 10y ago

To be honest I don't remember the last time I filled out a PDF form. Every form I've had to work with in the last 5 years was either fully online (docusign) or required me to print it out and sign it.

cookiecaper 10y ago

I always liked Okular, but it seems external PDF readers are less and less necessary for simple work. Really only needed for reading lengthy documents now (50+ pgs.).

herbst 10y ago

Last time i did that about 6 years ago i opened it with gimp and drew over it

rocky1138 10y ago

Okular

dotancohen 10y ago
Okular is by far the best PDF app on any platform. It supports annotations, margin trimming, overriding colors and other accessibility options. For heavy PDF users, Okular alone is worth the switch to Linux and KDE.

hedora 10y ago

evince. It is the default PDF viewer in gnome, I think.

leni536 10y ago

qpdfview

vog 10y ago

Nowadays almost all popular PDF readers can fill in PDF forms: Evince, Okular, and so on. Heck, you can even create PDF forms entirely with Free Software, using LibreOffice / OpenOffice. And don't forget PDF.JS of Firefox, which enables you to view and edit most PDF forms directly in your browser. However, it still has issues with some PDF documents, so I prefer Evince and Okular. The still-common advice to install Adobe Acrobat Reader is outdated! And it has been outdated for years. In fact, some time ago the FSFE started a (still successful) campaign to convince public entities to no longer tell people to download Acrobat whenever they offer a PDF file. With public entities you can argue that they advertise Adobe without getting paid for that, that they ignore the fact that PDF is an Open Standard, and that they put the plethora of good PDF readers into disadvantage. Instead, most of these public entities now point to a community-driven overview of Free Software PDF readers: https://pdfreaders.org/pdfreaders.en.html https://pdfreaders.org/pdfreaders.en.html But as mentioned before: As a Linux you don't need to worry about that, you almost certainly have already installed a good, free PDF viewer in the default installation.

NuDinNou 10y ago

Master PDF Editor or Chromium