Re: Type on top of a PDF?

From: Dom Lachowicz (domlachowicz@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Feb 06 2003 - 17:33:36 EST

  • Next message: Mark Gilbert: "Re: Type on top of a PDF?"

    --- abiword@interlinx.bc.ca wrote:
    > Many many times, I have gotten a PDF form that I
    > have had to fill in.
    > I always have to resort to printing the form out and
    > filling it in by
    > hand with a pen. This sucks.
    >
    > I am wondering, what is the feasibility of something
    > like Abiword
    > "rendering" (using ghostscript, acrobat, xpdf,
    > whatever) the PDF and
    > allowing the user to "type on top" of it?
    >
    > The "cat's ass" would be to print the PDF and the
    > text typed on top of
    > it all in one shot, but even if Abiword just printed
    > the added text so
    > that a page had to be printed twice (once to put the
    > PDF on it and the
    > second time to put the text on top of the PDF), that
    > would be
    > sufficient.
    >
    > I just want to be able to do the "word processor"
    > equivillent of
    > putting a printed form into a typewriter and typing
    > onto it.
    >
    > Thots?

    This is called form-filling, and the only tool I know
    of the currently handles this (from a user
    perspective) is Adobe Acrobat.

    There are other tools out there that can fill in
    forms, such as the FDFTk, iText, FDFMerge. These are
    generally command-line tools or libraries.

    At the moment these are your only alternatives.
    Importing PDF will be no small feat. Your easiest
    solution may be to continue using the printer + a pen.

    Dom

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