[ubuntu-us-mi] signing a PDF

[Robert Citek]

How can one add a signature to a PDF?

I just got a PDF of a form that I need to fill out, sign, and return.
In the past I had used gimp to convert the PDF to an image, insert the
image into an OpenOffice.org document, insert my scanned signature,
and export it as a PDF. Is there a better way to sign this PDF form?

Regards,
- Robert

[Robert Citek]

Just to clarify, I do not mean digitally signing. - Robert

Post by Robert Citek
How can one add a signature to a PDF?
I just got a PDF of a form that I need to fill out, sign, and return.
In the past I had used gimp to convert the PDF to an image, insert the
image into an OpenOffice.org document, insert my scanned signature,
and export it as a PDF. ?Is there a better way to sign this PDF form?
Regards,
- Robert

[Ben Rousch]

I'm in love with this free PDF editor:
http://www.docu-track.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer

"But it's a Windows program", you say? OK, make sure you're sitting
down. It is the first Windows program I've seen that actually installs
and runs perfectly under wine. Yeah, it's like frickin' magic.

Post by Robert Citek
How can one add a signature to a PDF?

So to add a signature with PDF-xchange:
1. Sign a piece of paper
2. Scan it to an image
3. Edit it in Gimp to just the part you want
4. Save it as a transparent PNG
5. Import the PNG into PDF-xchange as a new stamp
6. Stamp your signature as much as you want

I know - super easy!

Post by Robert Citek
I just got a PDF of a form that I need to fill out, sign, and return.
In the past I had used gimp to convert the PDF to an image, insert the
image into an OpenOffice.org document, insert my scanned signature,
and export it as a PDF. ?Is there a better way to sign this PDF form?
Regards,
- Robert
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[Robert Citek]

Thanks. Just got wine and now downloading this. I'll give it a shot.

Any linux-native alternatives?

Regards,
- Robert

Post by Ben Rousch
http://www.docu-track.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer

[Ben Rousch]

Thanks. ?Just got wine and now downloading this. ?I'll give it a shot.
Any linux-native alternatives?

I couldn't find anything for native linux, which is really why I went
with that one. It does work well though.

Regards,
- Robert

Post by Ben Rousch
http://www.docu-track.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer

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[Robert Citek]

Post by Ben Rousch

Thanks. ?Just got wine and now downloading this. ?I'll give it a shot.
Any linux-native alternatives?

I couldn't find anything for native linux, which is really why I went
with that one. It does work well though.

Agreed. Works perfectly. Just what I was looking for. Thanks.

Regards,
- Robert

[Craig Maloney]

Post by Robert Citek

Post by Ben Rousch

Post by Robert Citek
Thanks. Just got wine and now downloading this. I'll give it a shot.
Any linux-native alternatives?

I couldn't find anything for native linux, which is really why I went
with that one. It does work well though.

Agreed. Works perfectly. Just what I was looking for. Thanks.
Regards,
- Robert

I've had a similar experience with certain (ahem) work forms. I've used
Xournal with a Wacom pad, which did the trick for me.

Hope this helps!

[Wolfger]

Thanks. ?Just got wine and now downloading this. ?I'll give it a shot.
Any linux-native alternatives?

Define "Linux native". Are the WINE libraries somehow less "native"
than the gtk+ libraries or Qt libraries or...?

[Jay R. Wren]

Post by Wolfger

Post by Robert Citek
Thanks. Just got wine and now downloading this. I'll give it a shot.
Any linux-native alternatives?

Define "Linux native". Are the WINE libraries somehow less "native"
than the gtk+ libraries or Qt libraries or...?

Good point, WINE is not an emulator :) Its just another API library
that happens to be very ugly and match Win32 apis.
--
Jay

[Wolfger]

Post by Wolfger
Define "Linux native". Are the WINE libraries somehow less "native"
than the gtk+ libraries or Qt libraries or...?

Good point, WINE is not an emulator :) ?Its just another API library
that happens to be very ugly and match Win32 apis.

No need to repeat yourself... :-D
Now a more valid question would be "are there any [Gnome|KDE] native
alternatives?" Then we know which libraries you are seeking to use...
:-)

[Robert Citek]

Post by Wolfger

Post by Wolfger
Define "Linux native". Are the WINE libraries somehow less "native"
than the gtk+ libraries or Qt libraries or...?

Good point, WINE is not an emulator :) ?Its just another API library
that happens to be very ugly and match Win32 apis.

No need to repeat yourself... :-D
Now a more valid question would be "are there any [Gnome|KDE] native
alternatives?" Then we know which libraries you are seeking to use...
:-)

I don't know the term I'm looking for. What term would you apply to
the collection of software that includes OpenOffice.org, Firefox,
gimp, gedit, VirtualBoxOSE, $(apt-cache search . | cut -d' ' -f1 )?
They are in the Ubuntu repositories. They run on Ubuntu without
needing Wine. They are OpenSource. Pick a term that encapsulates
those qualities and probably several others that I haven't mentioned,
and that's the term I'm looking for. Until someone thinks long and
hard to come up with the perfect term, let's defer the ontological
philosophizing and call that elusive term "Linux native." Whadayasay,
eh? :)

Regards,
- Robert

[Wolfger]

I don't know the term I'm looking for. ?What term would you apply to
the collection of software that includes OpenOffice.org, Firefox,
gimp, gedit, VirtualBoxOSE, $(apt-cache search . | cut -d' ' -f1 )?
They are in the Ubuntu repositories. ?They run on Ubuntu without
needing Wine. ?They are OpenSource. ?Pick a term that encapsulates
those qualities and probably several others that I haven't mentioned,
and that's the term I'm looking for. ?Until someone thinks long and
hard to come up with the perfect term, let's defer the ontological
philosophizing and call that elusive term "Linux native." ?Whadayasay,
eh? ?:)

Nope. :-)
Why is "without needing X libraries" a requirement? Why are Y
libraries ok? Or Z libraries? That's making no sense. These are all
Linux native libraries.

Are you looking specifically for FOSS? Or are you looking for
something you can apt-get? I can't tell what your criteria truly is.
I'm afraid that if your criteria is "something that wasn't
specifically designed to run on Windows", you'll have to give up the
Firefox.... :-) If your criteria is to be completely free of anything
remotely Windows-ish you'll need to drop the OO.o that supports
Microsoft document formats. :-)

[Adam J. Lincoln]

Post by Wolfger

I don't know the term I'm looking for. ?What term would you apply to
the collection of software that includes OpenOffice.org, Firefox,
gimp, gedit, VirtualBoxOSE, $(apt-cache search . | cut -d' ' -f1 )?
They are in the Ubuntu repositories. ?They run on Ubuntu without
needing Wine. ?They are OpenSource. ?Pick a term that encapsulates
those qualities and probably several others that I haven't mentioned,
and that's the term I'm looking for. ?Until someone thinks long and
hard to come up with the perfect term, let's defer the ontological
philosophizing and call that elusive term "Linux native." ?Whadayasay,
eh? ?:)

Nope. :-)
Why is "without needing X libraries" a requirement? Why are Y
libraries ok? Or Z libraries? That's making no sense. These are all
Linux native libraries.
Are you looking specifically for FOSS? Or are you looking for
something you can apt-get? I can't tell what your criteria truly is.
I'm afraid that if your criteria is "something that wasn't
specifically designed to run on Windows", you'll have to give up the
Firefox.... :-) If your criteria is to be completely free of anything
remotely Windows-ish you'll need to drop the OO.o that supports
Microsoft document formats. :-)

While wolfger and I have discussed this on IRC, I want to say that I
think Robert's request is totally reasonable and understandable. I
think he got his answer that Ben R. looked for alternatives and don't
use wine and didn't find one.

Adam

[David F]

The reason why I don't like most wine alternatives is because they
typically are not open-source. Open-source software that uses wine
libraries is just fine with me. That likely is what the O.P. meant by
"linux-native", rather than the choice of libraries.

More to the point, can pdfedit do this? It seems quite sophisticated, I
wouldn't be surprised if it can. What I usually use, if I need only to
add text, not graphics, is flpsed, but of course that isn't what is
needed here. As a kludge similar to the previously described openoffice
technique, you could try using scribus, import the PDF, overlay the
signature graphic on it, and save it back out as a PDF. I'm not sure if
that is possible, but it might result in a slightly less ugly PDF than
converting the PDF to an image.

-- David F