Adobe Acrobat - alternatives?

[tim]

The immigration process has started in earnest and I need to fill out a bundle of forms. These are mostly in .pdf form and it would be useful to be able to type in the info and save them for emailing to the lawyers in Canada rather than print them out, hand write and fax back.

The problem is I don't have full Acrobat and I wondered if anyone could tell me if there is an opensource program or similar that I can use to amend pdf files.

Cheers

Tim

 

[RogerS]

Tim

If you stick 'edit' and 'pdf' into Google there's a whole raft of them.

Roger

 

[gidon]

Hi Tim
I'm not aware of a free editing program. And beware of even the cheaper paid for programs - some only allow you to add notes bookmarks etc - not even text.
However if you have Photoshop (I'm using Photoshop Elements 5) - it will let you open PDF files, add whatever you like and save them.
Cheers
Gidon

 

[Adam]

You can save as PDF from open office. (which is free to download). So you can open all your word documents, and save as PDF using the "word" equaivalent in open office.

Adam

 

[ike]

Google "CutePDF Pro"

 

[gidon]

Tim
An addition to my earlier post. One other free option which I have tried before (but depends how much time you have!) is PDFedit. This is a completely free FULL PDF editor (aka Acrobat Professional). But to run it under Windows you need Cygwin.
It's pretty straightforward to install if you want to give it a go. And should do what you want but for the price of something like CutePDF Pro mentioned above may not be worth the trouble!
One last option I just found (warming up my mouse to start work ) is this:
http://www.pdfescape.com
Online PDF editing for free - well the free version stamps your file with its logo.
Cheers
Gidon

 

[ike]

Just to add. The free CutePDF Pro creates unstamped PDF's as long as you don't use an edit function. As soon as you do that it will add footer text to each page. Otherwise it creates a clean copy.

 

[andrewm]

Just a thought. Before going down any of these routes it might be worth checking that the PDFs that you have will allow editing. It is possible to create ones that don't. That is, of course, if you have not already done so.

Andrew

 

[tim]

Just a thought. Before going down any of these routes it might be worth checking that the PDFs that you have will allow editing. It is possible to create ones that don't. That is, of course, if you have not already done so.

Andrew

Good point - some do and some don't. eg the Canadian Immigration ones are locked but the police clearance forms aren't.

Cheers

Tim

 

[staffie]

Tim,
You could just cut and paste the PDF contents into a word document using the select tool in the adobe reader toolbar.

I do this all the time with forms and it works fine even with locked documents.

Jock

 

[tim]

Tim,
You could just cut and paste the PDF contents into a word document using the select tool in the adobe reader toolbar.

I do this all the time with forms and it works fine even with locked documents.

Jock

t'would appear not - copy is delselected. Looks like its a print and manual fill option.

 

[andrewm]

t'would appear not - copy is delselected. Looks like its a print and manual fill option.

What about print / manual fill / scan / email?

Andrew

 

[tim]

t'would appear not - copy is delselected. Looks like its a print and manual fill option.

What about print / manual fill / scan / email?

Andrew

Yep - thats what i'll do - its dull though 'cos there is lots of repetition across the forms which would have been a cinch to c&p.

Some great info to fill in - when was your engagement party; if your relatives weren't there, why not etc etc.

Cheers

Tim

 

[gidon]

OK Tim this is what you want - it costs a tenner but could be worth it for you:
http://www.pdfill.com/
It opens and lets you edit encrypted files too which as someone pointed out a lot of the PDFs you're filling in will be.
FWIW I just bought it myself and I don't have loads of immigration forms to fill in (far more mundane things unfortunately)!
Cheers
Gidon