Free and open source PDF tools

Recently I needed a tool to modify PDF files and afterwards merge these files into one file. I ended up using the following tools:

Inkscape

Inkscape is a free and open source vector graphics editor that can be used - among lots of other functions - to modify a single PDF page (e.g. add text).

AccessPDF - Pdftk the PDF Toolkit.

Pdftk is a free and open source easy to use command line tool for:

* Merge PDF Documents
* Split PDF Pages into a New Document
* Decrypt Input as Necessary (Password Required)
* Encrypt Output as Desired
* Fill PDF Forms with FDF Data and/or Flatten Forms
* Apply a Background Watermark
* Report on PDF Metrics such as Metadata, Bookmarks, and Page Labels
* Update PDF Metadata
* Attach Files to PDF Pages or the PDF Document
* Unpack PDF Attachments
* Burst a PDF Document into Single Pages
* Uncompress and Re-Compress Page Streams
* Repair Corrupted PDF (Where Possible)

e.g. the following example Merges Three PDFs into a New Document

pdftk 1.pdf 2.pdf 3.pdf cat output 123.pdf

There are other free and open source PDF tools available, that could be used for PDF manipulations such as:
  • PDFedit --> but these crashed in my Kubuntu installation when I tried to merge pdf-files
  • OpenOffice 3.0 --> The Beta looks promising, but only OpenOffice 2.4 is currently available in the Ubuntu repositories.
  • Okular --> looks handy to add annotations (notes) but seem to not support adding normal text
Further tools can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PDF_software.

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