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Comments on How can I fill out PDF forms?

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How can I fill out PDF forms?

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I often need to fill out PDF forms, like government paperwork and stuff for banks. How can I do this on Linux?

Best I could find was Foxit, but it has strange limitations in the Linux version, like not being able to use black text (only navy). Also the software is quite low quality and poorly made.

I would need to at least be able to enter text on top of the form. If the PDF has form fields built in, the program should recognize those. But if they didn't put an actual field element, I should be able to just add my text as an arbitary annotation. Usually I enter text in black, but it is occasionally necessary to use color for emphasis (like blue). I need to draw a signature as well.

I strongly prefer a FOSS option, but if you want to suggest a proprietary one, I don't suppose it would hurt. Please clearly indicate if you're recommending a closed-source or paid app and what the price is.

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1 comment thread

Extreme side note: XML form data (1 comment)
Extreme side note: XML form data
Michael‭ wrote 5 months ago

This is super-unlikely to be what you're looking for, but it may help you in the future: PDFs have a mechanism to stamp in form field data from XML.

IIRC, you create the data file separately with a reference to the PDF form it loads into. This is useful if you have some process to generate partially (or fully) filled PDF form contents and you need to do this repeatedly. The XML file has a custom file extension recognized by PDF readers.