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Show HN: PDF Otter – Fill in PDFs Online and API

pdfotter.com

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Re: Show HN: PDF Otter – Fill in PDFs Online and API

#13

Post by cmurf »

The forms extensions in PDF are a problem in FOSS software. I'm wondering if this tool does, or can export the downloaded (edited) PDF as PDF/A-2 (or PDF/A-3) conforming? Because a problem is having PDFs you've filled out that aren't archival documents; and further to that a nice option would be support for embedded digital signatures.

Re: Show HN: PDF Otter – Fill in PDFs Online and API

#15

Post by gallito89 »

mariusz331 wrote: post #9
gallito89 wrote: post #5

Love that you don't need a sign-in for the demo, had a co-worker ask me about a service to solve this exact problem last week.

Thanks! That feature will never require sign-up. I think it's a good way to show off what the API can do.

Could also potentially monetize it by charging beyond X fills/mo using the browser version (tracked by IP so you group together offices).

Lots of small law offices, insurance agencies, etc. that I bet you could get using it.

Would also recommend lowering the free # of API usages to ~100 or something :)

Re: Show HN: PDF Otter – Fill in PDFs Online and API

#17

Post by mariusz331 »

ijustdontcare wrote: post #14

I don't get it. What advantage does this service have over using a pdf library to insert additional text? Why do I need an external server for this text insertion task?

You can use a library to insert text in a PDF but you need to figure out at what coordinates to position the text and how you want the text styled. If you are constantly adding PDF templates, this is cumbersome work. If you don't have a tool for figuring out the coordinates (like the editor on pdfotter.com), your developers will have to do this. The last company I worked at faced this exact problem and it took us hours to add PDF templates to the system.

Re: Show HN: PDF Otter – Fill in PDFs Online and API

#18

Post by mariusz331 »

cmurf wrote: post #13

The forms extensions in PDF are a problem in FOSS software. I'm wondering if this tool does, or can export the downloaded (edited) PDF as PDF/A-2 (or PDF/A-3) conforming? Because a problem is having PDFs you've filled out that aren't archival documents; and further to that a nice option would be support for embedded digital signatures.

Thanks for the ideas! The downloaded PDFs are not in a PDF/A format. I understand the need for a feature like this - I have used some government services that only allow submitted PDFs in archivable format. The commercial PDF->PDF/A libraries I came across are pretty pricey. Do you know of any open source alternatives?

Re: Show HN: PDF Otter – Fill in PDFs Online and API

#19

Post by phonon »

mariusz331 wrote: post #18
cmurf wrote: post #13

The forms extensions in PDF are a problem in FOSS software. I'm wondering if this tool does, or can export the downloaded (edited) PDF as PDF/A-2 (or PDF/A-3) conforming? Because a problem is having PDFs you've filled out that aren't archival documents; and further to that a nice option would be support for embedded digital signatures.

Thanks for the ideas! The downloaded PDFs are not in a PDF/A format. I understand the need for a feature like this - I have used some government services that only allow submitted PDFs in archivable format. The commercial PDF->PDF/A libraries I came across are pretty pricey. Do you know of any open source alternatives?

https://github.com/veraPDF/ has some tools

Re: Show HN: PDF Otter – Fill in PDFs Online and API

#20

Post by cmurf »

mariusz331 wrote: post #18
cmurf wrote: post #13

The forms extensions in PDF are a problem in FOSS software. I'm wondering if this tool does, or can export the downloaded (edited) PDF as PDF/A-2 (or PDF/A-3) conforming? Because a problem is having PDFs you've filled out that aren't archival documents; and further to that a nice option would be support for embedded digital signatures.

Thanks for the ideas! The downloaded PDFs are not in a PDF/A format. I understand the need for a feature like this - I have used some government services that only allow submitted PDFs in archivable format. The commercial PDF->PDF/A libraries I came across are pretty pricey. Do you know of any open source alternatives?

I don't. If they don't exist or aren't really good (fast, well documented, good APIs, bindings available for various languages) then I think that's something that needs to be pitched to hand waive. Maybe the Free Software Foundation has ideas, or the Document Foundation, and then also various governments.

That so many governments use, and insist their citizens use PDFs, it's really not OK for us to have to depend on proprietary closed source software. I have zero problem with making a profit on great tools and infrastructure and services, but the foundation needs to be owned by the public.

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