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PDF Tool – Modify PDFs in the browser without uploading

pdftool.org

131–140 of 198 posts

Re: PDF Tool – Modify PDFs in the browser without uploading

#131

Is there a free service which covers the same features as Adobe acrobat?

acrobat does a ton of stuff. there are lots of tools that do some of the things it can do, but I don't you're going to find something that's a complete replacement for free

Do you know any good free tool that is able to censor documents like Acrobat?

Re: PDF Tool – Modify PDFs in the browser without uploading

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh now I understand- thanks. ( I was wondering if you meant you created an account on your app for me :) )

I’d have read that just like you did. More context always helps. I guess another (lengthy) way to write that - can be - “I just created my HN account to post this comment”.

The green username on hackernews + the username itself was decent context.

Re: PDF Tool – Modify PDFs in the browser without uploading

#133

Machine translations for Finnish seem to be quite shoddy. The rotate tool is called ”A PDF is spinning” etc. Even the language name is wrong in the language selector.

Thanks for your feedback! We just published a new version. I hope it is now fixed.

Re: PDF Tool – Modify PDFs in the browser without uploading

#134
Semi related:

I have been looking far and wide for a tool that replicates Acrobat's /fill and sign/ feature, allowing me to fill out NON-form-fillable PDFs.

Something where I can fill it out, save, and then open up later to edit and add/remove previous additions.

Adobe as a business, their pushiness about creating an account and the fact that they bundle McAfee's shitware with Acrobat never sat well with me, so I'd love an alternative.

Surprisingly there's a few decent options on Android, but nothing worth while I could find for Windows or Linux.

Maybe someone here can help a guy out with a pointer?

Re: PDF Tool – Modify PDFs in the browser without uploading

#136

"uses WebAssembly" - forgive me but what? How do I know my PDF isn't going to Russia? or China? I mean, I could wireshark it but I'd like to know more about what's in the webassembly. PDF's are sensitive to some organizations. As already stated, some orgs even block online pdf tools for obvious reasons. I'm interested in this but I would be even more so if there was source so I can audit. Since it's running locally i…

Do you inspect the source of every webpage you visit, and every application you run?

Re: PDF Tool – Modify PDFs in the browser without uploading

#137
post #17

Big fan of the idea of offline in-browser tools: works on any device, and "installing" the program is as simple as visiting a webpage or opening the saved HTML file. This one uses WebAssembly, but even that isn't necessary: I wrote a couple of PDF tools for my own use that simply use pdf-lib: https://shreevatsa.net/pdf-pages/ https://shreevatsa.net/pdf-unspread/

Me too! I try to build my web-based tools as single files to make downloading them easy. Usually this Vite plugin does the trick: https://www.npmjs.com/package/vite-plugin-singlefile

Re: PDF Tool – Modify PDFs in the browser without uploading

#138

Big fan of offline tools. I have a small collection of tools at https://www.webutils.app/ and have been meaning to add pdf tools for a while.

Can you please explain why? I care about privacy and security, and this trend seems like we're going backwards. If something needs network access, web apps make sense. But I liked offline tools better when we called them "programs". Web apps to me seem like they turn the web browser into an operating system. I already have an OS.

Depending on which OS system you use, your programs can connect to internet and leak your data. As far as I know, neither Windows nor macOS have any built in firewall for outgoing connections. For mac Little Snitch or Lulu are indispensable. A JS app running in the browser sometimes maybe even easier to monitor. You can at least, see the network traffic by the built in devtool.

Re: PDF Tool – Modify PDFs in the browser without uploading

#139
post #134

Semi related: I have been looking far and wide for a tool that replicates Acrobat's /fill and sign/ feature, allowing me to fill out NON-form-fillable PDFs. Something where I can fill it out, save, and then open up later to edit and add/remove previous additions. Adobe as a business, their pushiness about creating an account and the fact that they bundle McAfee's shitware with Acrobat never sat well with me, so I'd l…

Xournal++ does the job, with a recognizably 90s interface. It stores a separate file with the overlay you create, and can produce a new PDF which combines the original file with your overlay. I use it any time I need to do something official.

Re: PDF Tool – Modify PDFs in the browser without uploading

#140
post #15

"uses WebAssembly" - forgive me but what? How do I know my PDF isn't going to Russia? or China? I mean, I could wireshark it but I'd like to know more about what's in the webassembly. PDF's are sensitive to some organizations. As already stated, some orgs even block online pdf tools for obvious reasons. I'm interested in this but I would be even more so if there was source so I can audit. Since it's running locally i…

> going to Russia? or China? always ironic when ppl say this on websites hosted in the us, a country with the most documented cases of governmental organisation backdooring/spying :/

It’s most documented in the US, because in China and in Russia you can go to prison for documenting their activities.
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