By 'edit' I mean typing into text fields for things like
Name:
Address:
and a couple of longer fields where one can list dates and other information.
Anybody who has had to fill in a 'Form 888' will be familiar with the fun
I read PDF files often, and create quite a lot, so I have messed with a number of PDF readers and things like pdfchain and pdfsam to 'manipulate' PDFs. There are a number of ways to edit the layout of PDFs and in some cases do some typing into them, that mess up the layout and overwrite fields. LibreOffice Draw is one.
However the FORMS I am working with must be edited and then emailed so I checked all my installed PDF utilities. I opened each different PDF viewer and clicked on parts of it to see if there was a way to enter data into the text fields. Only one of half a dozen or so allowed me to easily enter stuff into the text fields on the downloaded form, then edit my entries again if I made an error, and to save the changes.
I have had qpdfview installed for some time, but had not actually used it because the default viewer in Mint Xfce 20.2 is fine for viewing.
Details are at https://launchpad.net/qpdfview
I'm pretty sure it was in the Mint repos and installed with simply sudo apt update sudo apt install qpdfview
It opens the Text Fields looking all weird because it opens a field with a dark background (form mine anyway) and some sort of default font that is way too huge for the field, and it is a bit odd getting started, but after entering my name, then using Tab to move to each next field, and entering data there, I noticed as it moved between fields the data appeared in the fields in a fint that was sized to match the fonts in the form (as downloaded).
This is still a 'rudimentary' form support, as noted in the list of features on the qpdfview Launchpad site.
However now, for the first time since I started using Linux, I can 'easily' open a downloaded PDF, enter data, modify data, and save the form to upload or email it back to someone.
Whether it works on ALL Mint versions and of forms other than government ones I have no idea, but it might be worth checking. There might also be other PDF Viewers in Mint that allow 'filling in' of downloaded pdf forms this easily - and if there are, I'd be interested to hear about them in this thread.
If there are not - there is
E D I T !!
I just found a better PDF Form Editor. Because I used Mint KDE exclusively when it was alive, I always used Okular as a PDF Reader.
I just needed to check my PDF form in another reader (less confusing with 2 pdf documents open at one time). I opened the second form in Okular - sudo apt install okular - and it popped up a message that the document has forms and to click a button to interact with it.
I did, and it does. In a much better manner than qpdfview ! Instead of opening each field in the form, one at a time, Okular opens all fields ready for entering data.
So that makes TWO programs available in Mint to enter data into PDF forms.
Okular (lots of qt dependencies, but well worth it - and so far the best choice)
Qpdfview (still needs some work, but can do it)
