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Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

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Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#111

It's scary how such a widely used format (PDF) is almost in full control by Adobe. I have yet to see a true competitor to Adobe Acrobat. The only one that has come really close is the one that comes built-in for macOS. It's a hidden gem.

Adobe is expert at software standards. They aren't compulsive about control, yet don't give the farm away. The know when to be open and how much. That is how they dominate.

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#113

I have a PDF problem that I thought was simple but has proven difficult to solve and there is no paid solution I’ve found… I want to forward an email to an inbox, have the email body converted into a PDF, and then email that attachment to someone all automatically. I’ve tried Make, Zapier, pdf.co, pdftool, and a few other tools but have had no success. Has anyone solved this problem reliably?

I use Google apps script for it.

A filter labels a specific email.

A timed trigger runs a script.

Script fetches all emails with that filter.

Script runs in loop. Convers each message into a blob, blob gets converted to pdf. Pdf gets saved in google drive. Email gets label removed.

My code was based on this https://www.labnol.org/code/19117-save-gmail-as-pdf

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#115

It's scary how such a widely used format (PDF) is almost in full control by Adobe. I have yet to see a true competitor to Adobe Acrobat. The only one that has come really close is the one that comes built-in for macOS. It's a hidden gem.

It’s incredible to me that not only has Preview.app been the best non-Adobe way to use PDF’s for decades now and only on macOS (perhaps because NextStep, its roots, used PostScript natively?) but that Linux actually also seems to have better tooling in this space than Windows (where you’re pretty much stuck with Adobe Reader if you want a free solution)

Isn't SumatraPDF a decent program for Windows?

In regards to Preview, I still find it insane that it doesn't have an iOS/iPadOS equivalent. Bits of the functionality are scattered all over the place, usually in ways that don't feel as good as they do on the Mac. Sometimes I just want to open a PDF and leave it open, and not have to do it from Files which assumes I want to do something else with it than just looking.

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#117
post #80
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PDF had an open spec and oodles of programs supporting it. I don't understand where this comment is coming from.

Adobe acrobat (and maybe reader) is really the only app that fully supports the full PDF spec as understood by the authors of the spec. There are ridiculous parts of the spec that allow support for things like JS, etc.

That is true, but I have never encountered a PDF that is not produced by me and cannot be faithfully represented in third party PDF readers. And I give up the idea of producing those kinds of PDFs because I know the people I send to will complain about me rather than their PDF readers. So, Adobe Acrobat doesn't have any monopoly power here, since almost no one cares about those things only they can do.

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#118

It's scary how such a widely used format (PDF) is almost in full control by Adobe. I have yet to see a true competitor to Adobe Acrobat. The only one that has come really close is the one that comes built-in for macOS. It's a hidden gem.

[dead]

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find Chrome's built-in PDF viewer much snappier than Adobe Acrobat.

Sadly I had to install Adobe Reader on my father PC again after he had documents* with formulas. Chrome would calculate the numbers wrong. Everything was off by 10. *To get reimburses from a union or something.

If you occasionally need Adobe Reader/Acrobat exclusive features but don't want to install, you can use the free online version of Acrobat. It's pretty decent though it doesn't have all the features:

https://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#120
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s incredible to me that not only has Preview.app been the best non-Adobe way to use PDF’s for decades now and only on macOS (perhaps because NextStep, its roots, used PostScript natively?) but that Linux actually also seems to have better tooling in this space than Windows (where you’re pretty much stuck with Adobe Reader if you want a free solution)

Isn't SumatraPDF a decent program for Windows? In regards to Preview, I still find it insane that it doesn't have an iOS/iPadOS equivalent. Bits of the functionality are scattered all over the place, usually in ways that don't feel as good as they do on the Mac. Sometimes I just want to open a PDF and leave it open, and not have to do it from Files which assumes I want to do something else with it than just looking.

I personally use SumatraPDF on Windows, but it's basically just a fantastic PDF viewer. It does little else in regards to editing/modifying PDFs. Even the PDF viewer in Edge does more.

But for a lightweight, bloat-free experience, SumatraPDF is the way to go.

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