Like most remote employees, I have to deal with forms via PDF files fairly regularly. This isn't usually a problem, except for two minor details: 1) I hate wasting paper with printing crap out and then scanning it back in, 2) I don't have a printer or a scanner at home anymore. But this is the computer age, surely there's a concept out there that can assist me! Oh yeah! Just edit the PDF file. It's a simple concept really. Use the typewriter tool to enter in whatever text I need to enter in, and then import a picture of my signature (from way back when I had a tablet PC and stored off a signature image) for any places that needed a valid signature. Sounds reasonable, right?
Wrong.
Not because the technology isn't there, but because it isn't readily available in a reasonable format. PDF is the "free" way to deal with portable documents. But thanks to Adobe, that's become "only when reading." Everyone, even F/OSS programs, have jumped on the "pay for this basic editing functionality" bandwagon and it pisses me off. PDFs are ubiquitous, just like text files have been. Imagine just how frustrating your life would be if Notepad (BBEdit, whatever your poison) decided to only let you view text files. If you wanted to edit them, it'd save with an illegible and pointless watermark over it. It's ridiculous.
I spent almost an hour today looking for a free PDF editor that would do those two simple things (fill out text fields, import a picture) and couldn't find ONE that could do even that little. FoxIt, which used to be my favorite free PDF viewer and editor has decided to start whoring itself out with ridiculous toolbars, and multiple versions of the product with various plugins, etc. Worthless because importing images means you get watermarks. CutePDF, which used to be the gold standard before FoxIt, won't even install for me because they're too lazy to make a UAC compliant *installer* for the application. They actually have the balls to tell you to turn off UAC just to install their shitty software. Wow. I also tried some off-brand PDF editors, including Bullzip (which is just a print driver, and that doesn't solve my problem), PDFill (which watermarks even simple editing like typing in fields) and a few others.
Quite honestly, with all the incredibly terrible software that's out there in the PDF market, I was tempted to just give Adobe some money for a version of Acrobat that allows me to edit PDFs. Then I realized I'd just be supporting the stupid concept that I hate anyways. Don't call it a portable document format, because that's not what it is. Document implies reading and writing. Call it a portable viewing format, because that's all it is.
There's probably some obscure piece of software out there that does exactly what I need it to do (and if you know of it, please let me know -- my requirements aren't hard: edit text fields, import an image, save to PDF with no watermark). However, after an hour and a pissed-off blog entry, I'm not interested in searching much more.
Once I move back to MN, I'll be buying a printer/scanner/fax machine.
It was my understanding that the latest version of Acrobat Reader would allow forms to be filled in provided that the *creator* of the PDF allowed that to happen. For the most part, Acrobat Reader is the same application as the full version of Acrobat, but the PDF stores the triggers for those features that are allowable in Reader. (At least that's how it was explained to me.)
If you have Photoshop (or the much cheaper Pixelmator) you could import the original PDF and create your own template with your signature in it. To send it back, you just enter your text and save it as a PDF for emailing back. I think.
What changed around Acrobat 7-8 was that forms could not only be filled in using Reader (which previous versions allowed), but the resulting completed form can be saved (which previous versions of Reader did not allow) providing the person creating the document enables this.
However, the inability to easily modify .pdf files is the very reason why it is now a de facto standard e.g. with government bodies - modifications to the body of the document stand out much as if you modified a paper document. Your problem sounds like people are supplying you with inadequate .pdfs rather than a problem with the format itself.
Of course, for a truly electronic document you do not want a picture of your signature, but a genuine electronic signature - of course if the people supplying you with your .pdf are forgetting to enable form filling, chances are they'll forget to enable signing too.
Yeah, it's ridiculous.
I wish someone somewhere would just come up with a free/open-source solution that doesn't require you to buy a 'pro' version just to accomplish that. No, there's nothing wrong with someone making money, but when it's something like what you were trying to do...yeah, I can totally feel the frustration. Hey, this would be a great opportunity for a bright developer to dream up a new document format and start a revolution! :-D
So, OT, ya couldn't hang in Riverside, eh? hehe I understand that. I lived there for a while...years ago. Bakersfield is pretty close to Riverside as far as the heat is concerned and I am NOT lovin' it. If I could, I'd flee too. I'm more of a coastal person, and anything above 76 degrees F is too hot for me. Since I was recently married, I think we are going to move to Washington state or somewhere that isn't insanely hot. I'm glad you guys will be moving back to Minnesota...so I can stop listening to yer constant whinin'! hehe ;) No matter where you guys end up, I wish you guys every blessing.
Have you check out PDFPenPro at the following URL
http://www.smileonmymac.com/PDFpenPro/index.html
I ended up just printing the PDF out and will scan the thing back in to send it off. But that's an interesting point that the issue may be with the access rights to the document itself. Regardless, it's an awful lot of work for something that's meant to be a simple document. Helluva lot of run-around to get some PTO! :-P
I feel your pain about editing PDFs, Aaron but I do wonder whether history might come up with some other candidates for the title "the biggest scam ever" ;)
Have you seen any reports about UK Members of Parliament expense claims by any chance?
PDF-XChange lite helps in a lot of cases.
http://www.docu-track.com/
Combine it with Freepdf XP you can create new PDF documents. With this ghostscript based you can define a lot of printers with different profiles. You can predefine all the grahic stuff and what I never found again you can define actions. Like PDF-Printer 1 stores it output in directory A, printer 2 in directory B. Another nice feature is to combine several print jobs to one PDF.
http://freepdfxp.de
Best
In my yesterday post I wrote PDF-XChange lite. That was not what I mean. Because for most of allday office tasks the free PDF-XChange viewer is enough. You can use it as a typewriter for PDF and you can save forms with your data.
Thinking obliquely, Inkscape may provide you with a solution. It can load in a (non-password protected) pdf file as a drawing, you can edit it (adding new text and your signature graphic), then save it as a new pdf file.
Ummm...
I just downloaded the form (using Mac OS X) from the California DMV to renew my driver's license by USPS and was able to simply click on the TEXT icon in Preview.app and type away! Then I printed and saved it WITHOUT watermarking all over it.
You did not say if you were looking Windows-specific...but Apple's Preview.app works for me a lot of the time.
Jann