Top 5 Open Source PDF Editor Tools You Need Check Out

Ivan Cook

Is there an open source PDF editor?
What is the best open source 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 free and open source PDF editors are beneficial tools to have at your disposal. If you are looking for a stable open source PDF editor, read the article below. Or, you can try to use another great PDF editor, PDFelement Pro PDFelement Pro .

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Part 1. Top 5 Open Source PDF Editor
Part 2. PDFelement: A Great Alternative to Open Source PDF Editor

Part 1. Top 5 Free and Open Source PDF Editor

1. LibreOffice

LibreOffice is a free and powerful office suite, as well as an open source PDF editor for Windows. This open-source PDF editor was created to be like Microsoft Word so that it can open and edit PDF files easily. The editing of PDF files is relatively 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 an 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 instead of editing other text files.
It can be a bit glitch when working with large PDF files.

2. INKSCAPE

The INKSCAPE is an open-source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator, Freehand, or Xara X. It is one of the best open source PDF editors. 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 isn't effortless to use.
Sometimes it will be saved as blank pages after you edit and save it.

3. PDFSam Basic

PDFSam is an open source PDF editor for Windows that offers one open-source PDF editors and one commercial one. PDF Basic is a 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 see your PDF document in the form of pages visually. PDFSam Enhanced is the commercial version, which has all the powerful editing features you require. If you need an free and open source PDF editor, 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 can 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.

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 PDF file editable's essential elements 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 that 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.

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 editors that lead open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases, and more. It is primarily a graphics open-source PDF editor used to draw diagrams, graphs, and other images, but it can also be used to edit PDF files. You import your PDF file as a graphic, and then you 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 to spell.
It is excellent for adding graphics to a PDF file.

Cons:

When you're loading a large PDF file it operates slowly.
Some functions will impede your workflow, such as the Excel feature.
Some errors show up when working with large PDF files.

Part 2. PDFelement: A Great Alternative to 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, follow the 3 steps below, and you can edit your PDF file easily.

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3 steps to edit PDF files using PDFelement Pro

Step 1: Download and install PDFelement Pro on your computer.

Step 2: Drag and drop your PDF files into the program or click on the 'Open File' button to import PDF files.

Step 3: Click on the 'Edit' button to edit PDF text, images, links, and pages easily.

Conclusion

To sum up, this article provides you 6 awsome PDF editors, 5 of them are open source PDF editor. If you want to enjoy more interesting functions to deal with your PDF documents, you can try a great PDF editor, PDFelement.