Top 5 Open Source PDF Editor Tools You Need Check Out

Ivan Cook

Jul 01,2020 • Filed to: PDF Editor

You can find open source PDF editors online that are created via open source licensing. A community develops an open source PDF editor and you are welcome to add to it if you are familiar with software coding. These open source PDF editors Windows are beneficial tools to have at your disposal. If you are looking for a stable open source PDF editor, read the article below.

#1 LibreOffice
#2 INKSCAPE
#3 PDFSam
#4 PDF Architect
#5 Apache Open Office Draw

Top 5 Open Source PDF Editors

1. LibreOffice

LibreOffice is a free and powerful office suite, as well as an open source PDF editor. This open source PDF editor was created to be like Microsoft Word, so that can open and edit PDF files easily. The editing of PDF files is quite easy. It can help you to edit text and images. You can also white out some areas and then add text on top. The open source PDF editor is quite an advanced word processor, but its ability to edit PDF is somewhat limited. However, it will still do the basics, and it is open source PDF editor for Windows, so it is always available to edit your PDF files.

Pros:

It opens PDF files easily.
It can be used to edit other file formats and convert them to PDF.
You can add a digital signature to your work.
It can add and delete PDF pages.

Cons:

It is a bit limited when it comes to editing PDF files, as opposed to editing other text files.
It can be a bit glitch when working with large PDF files.

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2. INKSCAPE

The INKSCAPE is an open-source vector graphics editor which similar with Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, or Xara X. It is one of the best open source PDF editor. If you are a web designer, graphic designer, illustrator, or free-hand sketch artist, you may need to create vector images for your next project. Inkscape is the right tool to help with this task. It can be used to read, edit and extract information from any PDF file. If you are experienced at editing PDFs, this is a great open source PDF editor to have.

Pros:

It can edit every part of a PDF file, including adding and removing images, text and links.
It can be extended with scripting to have even more functionalities.

Cons:

It is quite complicated to use.
Sometimes it will be saved as blank pages after you edit and save it.

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3. PDFSam Basic

PDFSam is an open source PDF editor Windows that offers a suite of one open source PDF editors and one commercial one. PDF Basic is the tool that allows you to merge, split, extract pages, rotate and mix PDF files. It is Available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Free and open source since 2006. PDF visual is a tool that allows you to visually see your PDF document in the form of pages. PDFSam Enhanced is the commercial version, which has all the powerful editing features you require. If you need an open source PDF software, you can choose PDFSam Basic.

Pros:

The open source PDF editor will enable you to organize your PDF pages visually.
You can change the order of the PDF pages.
You are able to mix and merge PDF pages, split and extract PDF pages.
You may be able to rotate and save single or multiple pages.

Cons:

Sometimes the visual document composer will show erroneous information.
The open source PDF editor requires Java to run.
It has a steep learning curve and can be a bit confusing for beginners

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4. PDF Architect Free

PDF Architect Free is an open source PDF editor created by PDF Forge. You can use it to create PDF files from Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more than 300 file formats. It will make the basic elements of the PDF file editable, and is a great open course PDF editor to have on your list. This open source PDF editor is available for Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7.

Pros:

It has advanced editing features.
It can use OCR to make scanned pages editable so they can be saved as PDF.
It allows you to add a digital signature to your PDF files.
It allows you to create forms and also fill and edit existing ones.
It can merge several PDF files into one.
It allows you to edit the metadata of the PDF file to provide security.

Cons:

The free version will leave a watermark on your work. You have to buy a license to remove the watermark.

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5. Apache Open Office Draw

Apache Open Office Draw is another open source PDF editor for Windows that is slowly gaining popularity. It is one of the best open source PDF editor that leads open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is primarily a graphics open source PDF editor which is used to draw diagrams, graphs and other images, but it can also be used for editing PDF files. You import your PDF file as a graphic and then you simply add text on top of it. The PDF can then be saved as a new document. This is an open source PDF editor, and therefore comes from a reputable developer.

Pros:

It works on multiple platforms.
It has many editing features available.
It has a feature for checking spelling.
It is great for adding graphics to a PDF file.

Cons:

It operates slowly when you load a large PDF file.
There are some functions that will impede your workflow, such as the Excel feature.
Some errors show up when working with large PDF files.

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The Better PDF Editor than Open Source PDF Editor

PDFelement Pro PDFelement Pro is an exceptional PDF editor for Windows and Mac, and it has some very advanced PDF editing features. More than edit PDF files easily, it can convert PDF, merge PDF, OCR scanned PDF, secure PDF, sign PDF and more. Now, simply follow the 3 steps below and you can edit your PDF file easily.

Free Download