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I have been scouting the web for a pdf editing tool for quite some time now. And it would therefore be nice with some suggestions/recommendations to the problem.

I have read a bunch of other topics around StackOverflow, but havent quite been able to find a full solution yet.

The case: I have an application written in php/javascript on a linux server and recently it has become a requirement for my customers that they are able to edit Pdf documents direct in the browser. The functions i need are primarily the ability to make annotations and to draw on the PDF. That means. They load an already uploaded PDF-document and edits it and then saves it in PDF-format again. All done within the browser.

The second requirement is that the program must save pdf document in PDF-format again, since i have an Ipad app with all of this functionality, and i need them to play nicely together. It is therefore not an option to save an image of html of something like that.

I read a comment suggesting the Zend framework, and it did sound quite useful. However i have developed my own platform from the ground, and therefore my second question is, if it is possible to embed only the PDF-tool from Zend or something?

Thank you in advance.

ps. If i missed a simular subject that answers exactly this, please let me know and i'll delete again.

user1627114
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There are several libraries that can be used to edit PDF-files. To name a few: Tcpdf, fpdf and Zend_Pdf.

The later can be used even without the complete ZendFramework. But be cautious: Currently it only allows editing of PDF-Files up to version 1.4.

If you need speed you should also have a look at the PDFlib which could be tweaked to support your usecase

heiglandreas
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  • Thank you. What versions are pdf's if you convert them from i.e iWorks, word, latex or excel? are they within the 1.4 version range, or is that dependent on the current version of the program. And is there a way to check the version of a pdf? – user1627114 Apr 12 '13 at 11:06
  • There is no way to tell which program exports which version apart from testing. All programs that use native transparency will most likely write PDF version higher than 1.4. But you can test that easyly as each PDF starts with '%PDF-1.x' where '1.x' is the version-number. – heiglandreas Apr 12 '13 at 12:40