Discussion Overview
The discussion revolves around finding free, trial, or demo PDF editors. Participants share various methods and tools for editing PDFs, exploring both software options and workarounds depending on the content and format of the PDFs in question.
Discussion Character
- Exploratory
- Technical explanation
- Debate/contested
Main Points Raised
- Some participants suggest using StarOffice to copy text from PDFs and export it as a new PDF, depending on the content.
- Others mention specific tools available on Linux, such as Scribus and command-line utilities for editing PDFs.
- OpenOffice is noted for its ability to export PDFs, but some participants clarify that it cannot edit existing PDFs directly.
- PDF Edit Tools is proposed as a utility that offers various editing features, available for a trial period.
- One participant points out that while searching for PDF editing tools, many results can be found on SourceForge, but notes the potential difficulty of editing closed PDF documents.
- There is a discussion about the nature of the PDF file format, with some asserting it is not closed source, while others highlight issues with encrypted PDFs that restrict editing and printing.
- A web-based option, PDFfiller.com, is suggested as a user-friendly alternative that does not require software installation.
- Concerns are raised about the challenges of editing encrypted PDFs, with discussions on the implications of encryption types and the potential need for cracking tools.
Areas of Agreement / Disagreement
Participants express differing views on the capabilities of various PDF editing tools and the implications of PDF encryption. No consensus is reached regarding the best approach or tool for editing PDFs.
Contextual Notes
Some participants' suggestions depend on the specific content of the PDFs, such as whether they are text-based or encrypted. There are also unresolved questions regarding the effectiveness of different tools and methods mentioned.