Ask HN: Why is Adobe the only company capable of editing PDF files?

16 pointssultee3y ago11 comments

What's so non-trivial in this process that the only option to edit text on a PDF file is to buy an Adobe Acrobat subscription? Why can't other software do the same?

11 comments

gopisuvanam3y ago

PDF was an proprietary format (of Adobe) until 2008. It is no longer the case. Right now there are multiple tools to edit PDF documents online or offline. Check this for example: https://www.pdfescape.com/

mtmail3y ago

Plenty of other software can edit PDFs. https://knowtechie.com/firefox-now-lets-you-edit-sign-and-dr... https://www.techradar.com/news/google-chrome-finally-gives-u...

taxcoder3y ago

I spend a lot of time in Nitro PDF. The feature set I use is comparable to Adobe. We switched for better price with perpetual license and preferred interface (ribbon vs. whatever Adobe's is called).

https://www.gonitro.com/

kwanbix3y ago

Wow. Ribbon and preferred interface in the same sentence.

By the way, NitroPDF is great.

yesbutnopdf3y ago

Worked at nitro. Looking like MS office with the ribbon gui sold a lot of licenses. Users don’t want to learn Adobe’s ui.

taxcoder3y ago

We spend our days in a Microsoft world, the ribbon is familiar. I'd be happy if it was more keyboard driven but most others would complain.

gitgud3y ago

Try Inkscape, it does alright at editing PDF's and retaining the exact formatting.

Adobe does have the smoothest experience though...

https://inkscape.org/

mobilio3y ago

I'm using Foxit PDF Editor:

https://www.foxit.com/pdf-editor/

ss1083y ago

? It isn't lol

Just Googling a bit reveals many options...

guimi3y ago

LibreOffice Draw can also edit PDFs.

https://www.libreoffice.org/

giorgioz3y ago

on macOS I like https://pdfexpert.com/ a lot to edit .pdf files.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

11 comments

gopisuvanam3y ago

mtmail3y ago

Plenty of other software can edit PDFs. https://knowtechie.com/firefox-now-lets-you-edit-sign-and-dr... https://www.techradar.com/news/google-chrome-finally-gives-u...

taxcoder3y ago

I spend a lot of time in Nitro PDF. The feature set I use is comparable to Adobe. We switched for better price with perpetual license and preferred interface (ribbon vs. whatever Adobe's is called).

https://www.gonitro.com/

kwanbix3y ago

Wow. Ribbon and preferred interface in the same sentence.

By the way, NitroPDF is great.

yesbutnopdf3y ago

Worked at nitro. Looking like MS office with the ribbon gui sold a lot of licenses. Users don’t want to learn Adobe’s ui.

taxcoder3y ago

We spend our days in a Microsoft world, the ribbon is familiar. I'd be happy if it was more keyboard driven but most others would complain.

gitgud3y ago

Try Inkscape, it does alright at editing PDF's and retaining the exact formatting.

Adobe does have the smoothest experience though...

https://inkscape.org/