6 Best Open source PDF editors For Windows, Linux or Mac

PDF files are the most popular type to publish some documents in a read-only mode both offline and online. Most of the software available online is only for reading PDF documents called PDF reader. And people on the internet aggressively looking for some Open source PDF editor solution that they can use without paying any penny. PDF open-source editors are a bit different from PDF readers because they allow us to edit them. The best free PDF editor does not only let us edit the PDF files but also allows us to add our text, images, and graphics, fill out form fields, and more.

Some online PDF editors that use web-based technology means they work in a web browser. To edit PDFs online, first, you need to upload them to their website and then you can edit them which can be a privacy issue. But the best thing about such PDF online editors is you can use them from anywhere without installing any software locally on the computer. And once you have done the online PDF editing of our PDFs, you can save them back to your computer. Coming to the point, the best open-source PDF editors we have mentioned in this article are available online free of cost and have active projects.

Best Open Source PDF Editors

LibreOffice draw pdf editor

LibreOffice is a complete office suite that consists of all types of document reading, editing, and creating tools such as Writer a Microsoft Word alternative, Calc alternative of Excel, Base for Database, and so on. It also has one tool known as Draw which is a diagram creator but also has a strong ability to create and edit PDF files. It is one of the best open-source PDF editors and a strong competitor in the world of PDF editing.

It is free and open-source software and can be a good alternative for those who don’t want to pay for proprietary software like Acrobat. It has all the basic features you can expect from a free PDF editor open source, yes it is not a complete bundle of PDF editing tools but a good option in the open source Word. Also, don’t forget that LibreOffice is a whole office package and the best alternative to Microsoft Office.

This open-source PDF editor allows editing text, and images, creating PDF files, or deleting PDF pages from pre-existing PDFs. It supports file conversion, export, and import and can also Digitally sign PDF files. LibreOffice is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.

Apache OpenOffice Draw

Apache OpenOffice Draw is like LibreOffice Draw and can act as a PDF reader and editor. It provides a couple of tools to edit PDF pages and allows them to save or import in different file formats. One can insert text, images, form fields, and more using this open-source PDF editor.

The interface of OpenOffice looks a bit old in comparison to LibreOffice Draw. If you talk about platform compatibility it supports Windows, Mac, and Linux.

PDFedit

PDFedit is still in the beta stage and falls under the free and open-source PDF editor software category.  It can use as a PDF reader, and PDF editor and also can extract information from a PDF file.

PdfEdit includes a pdf editor based on QT3.x  that provides it with a graphical interface. A person with coding knowledge can modify the behavior of the editor using scripts and plugins. It can use to add text and images to PDF files, moreover, a user can find change, or delete any particular section, word, or information.  It is multiplatform-supported PDF open-source software that can work on Unix systems, Windows 32/64, and also Windows CE, and others.

Inkscape

Inkscape is another open-source software that can use to edit high graphics PDF files. It is not a standalone PDF editor and is majorly known for its powerful and free design tool but can act as an open-source editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. To edit PDF files created somewhere else it uses the Vector Graphics tool. It can use as a basic PDF reader and an open-source PDF editor for removing and adding Images or Text to the file. Inkscape is a portable software which means you do not need to install it, moreover, you can carry it in a pen drive and use it anywhere you want.

The main ability of this open-source PDF editor software is creating sketches but it also allows exporting the files in  PNG format.  But remember it is just a basic PDF editor.

PDFsam–PDF Split and Merge

PDFsam Basic is a free and open-source pdf editor solution that can do basic editing tasks such as PDF split, merge, mix, extract pages and rotate PDF files. It is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and any other operating system that supports Java Runtime Environment (with JavaFX) version 8 or above. It is a free PDF reader and can create PDF files from 300+ file formats.

It also offers a premium version that allows the user to create PDF forms from scratch, add actions to print the document, send it by email, and others. The paid version can feature 256 bits of AES encryption, set permissions, and the digital signature on a PDF file. Furthermore, the great thing is that it has OCR (Optical Character Recognition) support to extract text from images.

Scribus

Scribus is another open-source PDF editor software that is also a desktop publishing (DTP) application. It is GPL-licensed free PDF software. It is available for leading system platforms such as Unix, Linux, BSD, macOS, Haiku, Microsoft Windows, OS/2, and eComStation operating systems. Scribus is based on the free Qt toolkit.

This open-source PDF editing software can use to create both animated and interactive PDF presentations and forms. It supports PDF/X-3 specification, and JS forms, and offers a wide range of export options including PDF.

Also See: 5 Free & Best Open Source Office Suite Software

If you know any other open-source PDF editor which works best in your case, please let us know…