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  • Better way to edit PDF forms with any desired font using freeware?

    From Joe Beanfish@21:1/5 to Arlen G. Holder on Fri May 3 13:30:02 2019
    On Thu, 02 May 2019 06:48:10 +0000, Arlen G. Holder wrote:

    On Wed, 1 May 2019 16:35:49 -0400, Keith Nuttle wrote:

    See my comments, ANY form, whether image based or text base, can be
    filled out using the current Adobe PDF Reader DC which is FREE. It is
    also designed so that you can add a signature to that document. Caveat
    is that you must scan your signature and added to the Adobe Reader.

    Hi Keith,

    Thanks for that admonishment, where are different kinds of PDFs, e.g.,
    o A PDF of "something" (anything), which can be a bitmap for all we know
    o A PDF of pure text of some format (which is the easiest to deal with)
    o A PDF in a specific editable "form" format, which is a special beast

    To be clear, we're talking about the 1st item above; not the latter two.


    For the first 2 types, here's a method that, while not slick, works:

    Open the pdf with gimp.
    Import with at least 200 or 300 dpi.
    Each page will be a layer, so be sure to choose the correct layer(s)
    to edit. (getting the hang of layers might take a couple minutes)
    Export the finished product as "mng" (multi-part png).
    Use ImageMagick's "convert" command to turn it into a multi-page
    pdf again:
    convert somefile.mng somefile.pdf

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Joe Beanfish@21:1/5 to Arlen G. Holder on Tue May 7 13:07:17 2019
    On Mon, 06 May 2019 15:53:11 +0000, Arlen G. Holder wrote:

    On Mon, 6 May 2019 09:32:11 +0200, Carlos E. R. wrote:

    They were green.

    Ours were photocopies, IIRC. Or you could buy the expensive "real"
    ones.

    I always wondered why, in college, the graph paper was blue, and yet,
    the Smith Charts were orange (or, later in life, green).

    Just one of those things in life that we ponder...

    Oh look! A butterfly!

    IIRC, the blue grid tended to disappear when photocopied. Now to
    ponder why that... lol. Perhaps to show just your graph without
    the "distracting" grid?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Joe Beanfish@21:1/5 to Peter Flynn on Tue May 28 14:21:09 2019
    On Mon, 27 May 2019 13:05:43 +0100, Peter Flynn wrote:
    Someone asked me to help them edit a multi-page PDF form where they
    wanted it to look professional.

    I'm always fascinated by this. Do they have the owner's permission to
    modify the document? If so, why not get the source, edit it, and
    regenerate the PDF. If not, this has the hallmarks of a breach of some
    kind. We regularly get requests for this kind of thing, and we ask for evidence of permission first, evidence of ownership second, or evidence
    of abandonment third. "Looking professional" wrt PDF forms really needs
    the use of a designer and a document engineer.

    Peter

    Permission is implicit sometimes. For example, I recently had to fill in
    and sign insurance documents. They emailed the form as a regular PDF (not
    a fillable form). Rather than print it, scribble on the paper, scan it
    back in, shred paper (such a waste). I brought it up in gimp to put nice
    clean text into the fill-in areas and draw my signature. Save as .mng
    and convert back to PDF with "convert -reverse file.mng file.pdf".
    Not the slickest procedure and I'd hate to use that for any continuous production but it got the job done with no wasted trees/ink.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)