Show HN: PrivatePDF – minimal PDF editor that runs in the browser (opens in new tab)

(github.com)

14 pointsmeridion2y ago2 comments

I created this tool to make it quick and easy to sign PDF contracts, without having to deal with installing additional software and without worrying that my PDFs will get uploaded to a third party.

It supports the bare minimum for my most common usecases. It is not intended to be a full-featured PDF editor. Features include filling PDF forms, inserting images and text, and rotating PDFs.

Check it out by either picking a PDF of your own - https://photown.github.io/private-pdf/, or with a preloaded sample PDF - https://photown.github.io/private-pdf/?pdf=https://raw.githu....

In terms of tech stack, it's written in TypeScript, bundled with Webpack. For PDF rendering and editing I used PDF.js and pdf-lib respectively.

2 comments

20after42y ago

This is pretty impressive. Does it really have full support for filling pdf forms? Most PDF applications that I have tried (on Linux at least) have each more or less failed at that task.

meridionOP2y ago

Thanks! For PDF form filling, I use the APIs that pdf-lib [0] exposes. That includes text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdowns and options lists. Give it a try and let me know if you find a type of form field that's missing.

[0] https://github.com/Hopding/pdf-lib

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