Fill & Sign PDF on Ubuntu

Question

When using Adobe Reader on a Windows desktop, one can open a PDF and use the fill & sign option. This option does not seem to appear on the Ubuntu version of Adobe Reader. How does one fill and sign PDF documents on a Ubuntu?

To be clear it is not the Ubuntu version it is the version that Adobe chooses to make for Ubuntu. So I would be asking them. — David, Apr 11 '21 at 14:17
You have to install a later version (2015) usingplayonlinux and Wine. Please see this link >>> https://www.playonlinux.com/en/app-2653-Adobe_Acrobat_Reader_DC.html and come back here if you have any problems. — Raffles, Apr 11 '21 at 16:12
Does this answer your question? Is there software that can fill PDF forms? — imz -- Ivan Zakharyaschev, Mar 21 '23 at 11:42
To make that clear: What you're asking is not actually (securely) signing a document, it is pasting a picture of a signature and saving it. Those two are not the same and should never be confused, although they constantly are. Once you paste a picture of your signature and distribute it, anyone with a computer can copy/paste it anywhere else, and no law can change that. — Zak, Mar 27 '24 at 09:34

score 79 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 07 '24 at 16:59

79

Using Xournal or Xournal++

How does one fill and sign PDF documents on a Ubuntu?

Not with Adobe unless you get them to add support for it.

Alternatives:

Install and open Xournal:
```
sudo apt install xournal
```
Or install and open Xournal++, sometimes written xournalpp:
```
sudo apt install xournalpp
```

(See this for a comparison between the 2; xournal++ is a rewrite of xournal)

and then ...

Choose "Annotate PDF" from the File menu and select the PDF to sign.
Click the "Image" button in the toolbar
Click on document
Select an image of your signature
Optional: export to PDF so you have a new copy

edited Mar 07 '24 at 16:59

Flimm

41,766

answered Apr 11 '21 at 14:28

Rinzwind

299,756

Unfortunately and inexplicably this didn't work for me, after selecting the image nothing happened. I wasn't even able to add a simple text for what matters with this tool. – ecoologic May 01 '21 at 06:01
5

Works for me :-) – John Mee Feb 06 '22 at 01:51
This works but does not create an identity-certified signature as Adobe Acrobat does. – Zatrapilla Aug 03 '22 at 16:27
1

This works for me. Although I have been using xournal++ and as a last step "Export to PDF". – user5534993 Oct 24 '22 at 10:35
@user5534993 neat. https://github.com/xournalpp/xournalpp.github.io/pull/23/files has a list of differences. – Rinzwind Oct 24 '22 at 12:14
Upvote for Xournal++! This software works smoothly and inutitive – Paul Apr 04 '23 at 08:08
Amazing indication – Sergio Abreu Nov 21 '23 at 21:28
If Xournal++ is supported, and Xournal is unsupported, should Xournal++ be recommended first? – David Arcos Nov 24 '23 at 11:16
That is up to each of us to decide I would assume. But I would assume xournal should be replaced by ++. It's 7 years old but it does pass the build check for 23.10. So maybe it is just that good ;) – Rinzwind Nov 24 '23 at 15:23

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered May 01 '21 at 05:58

10

I managed to achieve using pre-installed LibreOffice Draw.

Open the file using LibreOffice Draw

Right click on the file
Click: "Open with other application"
Type: draw and select "LibreOffice Draw"

Insert the picture of your signature

From the top menu of Draw, click Insert
Click image...
Select an image of your signature
Resize and drag where you need it

Export to PDF

This can be done either from the red PDF icon on the right side of the printer icon in the top left corner, or from:

File, Export As..., Export Directly as PDF

answered May 01 '21 at 05:58

ecoologic

960

2

I opened a basic PDF doc this way, and right away the page dimensions were off (paragraphs bleeding off the page edge). So... I'm gonna explore something else (online PDF tools). – Kalnode Jun 22 '22 at 20:05
@MarsAndBack - for some reason xournal worked for me too some time later. I think it was a different installation, but I can't tell you anything particularly useful on how I got it working. Best of luck – ecoologic Jun 22 '22 at 22:02
if apt doesn't work, try snap or maybe from the website? – ecoologic Jun 22 '22 at 22:05
1

Works really well. This is also a way to edit the text or even adjust line spaces. I was asked to remove line space before for a PDF book. Using LibreOffice Draw seems to be a better way. – Harry Oct 20 '23 at 22:52

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 07 '24 at 17:02

3

I did like this:

Create my signature with signaturely and download image as png.
Install Sejda, a PDF editor for Linux, macOS and Windows, with a graphical user interface. Download deb file from https://www.sejda.com/desktop, then install sejda, like this:

sudo dpkg -i sejda-desktop_7.5.4_amd64.deb

Start sejda and paste the signature image to a pdf.

edited Mar 07 '24 at 17:02

Flimm

41,766

answered Nov 15 '22 at 22:08

Ryo Matsuzaka

133

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 07 '23 at 14:03

3

I made a tool for this: https://github.com/svenssonaxel/pdf-sign

Unlike Xournal++ and LibreOffice Draw, it will keep the quality of the signature (no rasterization), and IMO is faster too since it's specifically made for this use case.

answered Aug 07 '23 at 14:03

Axel Svensson

31
1

This is great ! Thank you for this great software :) – brunetton Mar 21 '24 at 17:45

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 29 '23 at 22:08

I was able to sign a pdf using https://dochub.com/. The service was free and worked great! When I opened the pdf from my google drive, I selected the option to sign using dochub. I uninstalled Adobe from my Linux machine as the signing part never worked right from Snap.

Fill & Sign PDF on Ubuntu

5 Answers5

Using Xournal or Xournal++

Open the file using LibreOffice Draw

Insert the picture of your signature

Export to PDF