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Ask HN: Why is Adobe the only company capable of editing PDF files?
What's so non-trivial in this process that the only option to edit text on a PDF file is to buy an Adobe Acrobat subscription? Why can't other software do the same?
- mtmail 4y agoPlenty of other software can edit PDFs. https://knowtechie.com/firefox-now-lets-you-edit-sign-and-draw-on-pdf-files/ https://knowtechie.com/firefox-now-lets-you-edit-sign-and-dr... https://www.techradar.com/news/google-chrome-finally-gives-users-a-free-pdf-editor https://www.techradar.com/news/google-chrome-finally-gives-u...
- gopisuvanam 4y agoPDF was an proprietary format (of Adobe) until 2008. It is no longer the case. Right now there are multiple tools to edit PDF documents online or offline. Check this for example: https://www.pdfescape.com/ https://www.pdfescape.com/
- giorgioz 4y agoon macOS I like https://pdfexpert.com/ https://pdfexpert.com/ a lot to edit .pdf files.
- taxcoder 4y agoI spend a lot of time in Nitro PDF. The feature set I use is comparable to Adobe. We switched for better price with perpetual license and preferred interface (ribbon vs. whatever Adobe's is called). https://www.gonitro.com/ https://www.gonitro.com/
- kwanbix 4y agoWow. Ribbon and preferred interface in the same sentence. By the way, NitroPDF is great.
- yesbutnopdf 4y agoWorked at nitro. Looking like MS office with the ribbon gui sold a lot of licenses. Users don’t want to learn Adobe’s ui.
- taxcoder 4y agoWe spend our days in a Microsoft world, the ribbon is familiar. I'd be happy if it was more keyboard driven but most others would complain.
- guimi 4y agoLibreOffice Draw can also edit PDFs. https://www.libreoffice.org/ https://www.libreoffice.org/
- gitgud 4y agoTry Inkscape, it does alright at editing PDF's and retaining the exact formatting. Adobe does have the smoothest experience though... https://inkscape.org/ https://inkscape.org/
- ss108 4y ago? It isn't lol Just Googling a bit reveals many options...
- mobilio 4y agoI'm using Foxit PDF Editor: https://www.foxit.com/pdf-editor/ https://www.foxit.com/pdf-editor/
- aaron695 4y ago[dead]