5 ms·

Edit PDFs for Free with Firefox PDF Editor

112 points by Krasnol 2y ago

add-sub-mul-div 2y ago
I used this today but then I had to delete a page and couldn't do that in the browser so I had to do it with python code. I'm not a fan of the browser becoming the everything app but pdf software feels particularly shitty to have to install so I'd welcome more pdf features in firefox.
- ogurechny 2y ago
  The “PDF software” is great for basic tasks like these — you don't even need to write any code, just use pdftk or mutool. It's the Web that is full of junk semi-malware tools that prevent people from finding the right solution.
- squarefoot 2y ago
  I'm also not a fan of browsers doing everything, but this fills a niche that is often occupied by a much more bloated suite like Adobe Acrobat.
  - eviks 2y ago
    There are pdf apps that aren't as bloated as either Adobe Acrobat or the browser
    - ag_guy 2y ago
      Can you list a few?
      - kmoser 2y ago
        I've been using Foxit Reader https://www.foxit.com/pdf-reader/ https://www.foxit.com/pdf-reader/ for years to mark up PDFs. The new Firefox feature seems to be a pared-down version of Foxit Reader, which seems kind of redundant to me. I would much rather have the ability to actually edit a PDF, i.e. change existing text and images.
      - eviks 2y ago
        Foxit, Pdf-xchange, a few others from this list https://alternativeto.net/category/productivity/pdf-editor/ https://alternativeto.net/category/productivity/pdf-editor/
brokenmachine 2y ago
Is this online-only, or can you use it to edit PDFs without the "cloud"? Can you save the edited PDF locally? The page is kind of light on details.
- RockRobotRock 2y ago
  It's not online-only and doesn't talk to the cloud. Here's the workflow: 1. Open a PDF in Firefox (this can be a remote or local file) 2. Make edits 3. Click the save button to save it locally
eviks 2y ago
> In the past, your only option was to print it on a dead tree, add things with ink, and then scan it back into your computer. No, in the past my options were the same as in the now - use an app to fill the form
nexoft 2y ago
This is a good feature that I didn't know about as a Firefox user, can't they get a little bit aggressive, just like MSFT when you want to use Edge to download Chrome, and put a big arrow near the edit button the first time you open a PDF in Firefox? or something similar so people would know about it.
- rchaud 2y ago
  Their largest donor is Google, so I assume there are some strings attached to that money. Firefox is also the only browser that doesn't support "Add to Home Screen" for web apps, which you wouod think would be a no-brainer.
  - szszrk 2y ago
    What platform you mean? With that lack of add to home screen? I use that sometimes on Firefox on Android.
Slix 2y ago
Does anyone have a suggestion for PDF redacting? It's the only thing I need Acrobat for. And when I need it, it's very important.
- mckmk 2y ago
  I regularly use Nitro PRO for redaction. It's proprietary but I don't know of any OSS tools that focus on redaction. https://www.gonitro.com/pdf-pro https://www.gonitro.com/pdf-pro
- mediumsmart 2y ago
  Can’t you copy the text, run a macro that replaces the targets with “redacted” and export the result to pdf?
Etherlord87 2y ago
I tried this feature in somewhat recent past and some added text was printing in different positions than shown in the editor. Actually I discovered it was in the wrong position already in the "preview" (not sure what that meant, there's probably some preview feature). Also when opening the edited PDF in Sumatra, Polish characters (ąęółśćżń) were bugged. So beware before you spend a lot of time on a single document just to discover it doesn't quite work!
kierank 2y ago
The Firefox PDF reader is atrocious. Opening any non-trivial PDF causes it to crash even on an i9 with 32GB of RAM. I guess this is because it's rendering the pdf to HTML.
- wvbdmp 2y ago
  Huh, I guess “non-trivial PDF” is so wide a spectrum as to become meaningless, but FWIW I’ve never had any such problems on much lower hardware specs. I am, however, only talking about whole books, long-ish forms, brochures with print-quality images and graphs and that sort of thing. Since PDFs can theoretically contain anything under the sun, are you perhaps talking about more exotic use cases (interactivity, animation, idk)? Or just more excessive file sizes?
  - fwn 2y ago
    I use Firefox by default, but I open PDFs with large organization charts very regularly. I have Edge open for this because Firefox renders everything in these documents far too slowly.
Ayesh 2y ago
I appreciate there is good PDF support in Firefox now, but "Edit PDFs" is a bit misleading because it's only annotations. You cannot, for example, remove or edit existing text.

112 points by Krasnol 2y ago

I used this today but then I had to delete a page and couldn't do that in the browser so I had to do it with python code. I'm not a fan of the browser becoming the everything app but pdf software feels particularly shitty to have to install so I'd welcome more pdf features in firefox.

ogurechny 2y ago
The “PDF software” is great for basic tasks like these — you don't even need to write any code, just use pdftk or mutool. It's the Web that is full of junk semi-malware tools that prevent people from finding the right solution.
squarefoot 2y ago
I'm also not a fan of browsers doing everything, but this fills a niche that is often occupied by a much more bloated suite like Adobe Acrobat.
- eviks 2y ago
  There are pdf apps that aren't as bloated as either Adobe Acrobat or the browser
  - ag_guy 2y ago
    Can you list a few?
    - kmoser 2y ago
      I've been using Foxit Reader https://www.foxit.com/pdf-reader/ https://www.foxit.com/pdf-reader/ for years to mark up PDFs. The new Firefox feature seems to be a pared-down version of Foxit Reader, which seems kind of redundant to me. I would much rather have the ability to actually edit a PDF, i.e. change existing text and images.
    - eviks 2y ago
      Foxit, Pdf-xchange, a few others from this list https://alternativeto.net/category/productivity/pdf-editor/ https://alternativeto.net/category/productivity/pdf-editor/

brokenmachine 2y ago

Is this online-only, or can you use it to edit PDFs without the "cloud"? Can you save the edited PDF locally? The page is kind of light on details.

RockRobotRock 2y ago
It's not online-only and doesn't talk to the cloud. Here's the workflow: 1. Open a PDF in Firefox (this can be a remote or local file) 2. Make edits 3. Click the save button to save it locally

eviks 2y ago

> In the past, your only option was to print it on a dead tree, add things with ink, and then scan it back into your computer. No, in the past my options were the same as in the now - use an app to fill the form

nexoft 2y ago

This is a good feature that I didn't know about as a Firefox user, can't they get a little bit aggressive, just like MSFT when you want to use Edge to download Chrome, and put a big arrow near the edit button the first time you open a PDF in Firefox? or something similar so people would know about it.

rchaud 2y ago
Their largest donor is Google, so I assume there are some strings attached to that money. Firefox is also the only browser that doesn't support "Add to Home Screen" for web apps, which you wouod think would be a no-brainer.
- szszrk 2y ago
  What platform you mean? With that lack of add to home screen? I use that sometimes on Firefox on Android.

Slix 2y ago

Does anyone have a suggestion for PDF redacting? It's the only thing I need Acrobat for. And when I need it, it's very important.

mckmk 2y ago
I regularly use Nitro PRO for redaction. It's proprietary but I don't know of any OSS tools that focus on redaction. https://www.gonitro.com/pdf-pro https://www.gonitro.com/pdf-pro
mediumsmart 2y ago
Can’t you copy the text, run a macro that replaces the targets with “redacted” and export the result to pdf?

Etherlord87 2y ago

I tried this feature in somewhat recent past and some added text was printing in different positions than shown in the editor. Actually I discovered it was in the wrong position already in the "preview" (not sure what that meant, there's probably some preview feature). Also when opening the edited PDF in Sumatra, Polish characters (ąęółśćżń) were bugged. So beware before you spend a lot of time on a single document just to discover it doesn't quite work!

kierank 2y ago

The Firefox PDF reader is atrocious. Opening any non-trivial PDF causes it to crash even on an i9 with 32GB of RAM. I guess this is because it's rendering the pdf to HTML.

wvbdmp 2y ago
Huh, I guess “non-trivial PDF” is so wide a spectrum as to become meaningless, but FWIW I’ve never had any such problems on much lower hardware specs. I am, however, only talking about whole books, long-ish forms, brochures with print-quality images and graphs and that sort of thing. Since PDFs can theoretically contain anything under the sun, are you perhaps talking about more exotic use cases (interactivity, animation, idk)? Or just more excessive file sizes?
- fwn 2y ago
  I use Firefox by default, but I open PDFs with large organization charts very regularly. I have Edge open for this because Firefox renders everything in these documents far too slowly.

Ayesh 2y ago

I appreciate there is good PDF support in Firefox now, but "Edit PDFs" is a bit misleading because it's only annotations. You cannot, for example, remove or edit existing text.