How does one fill and sign PDF documents 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 Ubuntu?

score 107 · Accepted Answer · edited May 21 '24 at 18:13

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 (not actively developed anymore):
```
sudo apt install xournal
```
Or install and open Xournal++ (actively developed), 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

score 19 · Answer 2 · answered May 01 '21 at 05:58

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

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 07 '23 at 14:03

7

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

71
1
1

score 5 · Answer 4 · edited May 21 '24 at 20:19

If you don’t want to take an image of your signature, you can use Okular: open the document, then choose Tools > Annotations and click on "Freehand Line" (the red scribble on the right of the pen).

Tip: to make it easier to sign on a laptop trackpad, temporarily disable the mouse pointer acceleration in your OS settings.

As pointed out by Archisman Panigrahi in the comments, Okular also has an "Insert signature" function to insert a scan of your signature. See this tutorial for more information on how to scan your signature.

End result:

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 09 '25 at 15:22

Use your computer's internet browser pdf viewer (PDF.js)

Sometimes the simplest answers are the best. Without the need to install anything, you can use PDF.js, the default pdf reader of your web browser. Firefox, as well as Chrome, use PDF.js - I am not sure about other browsers.

You can fill in your pdf forms, write custom text, highlight, and even add your signature image. Then print your adjusted pdf into a file and you are done.

score 3 · Answer 6 · 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

44,031

answered Nov 15 '22 at 22:08

Ryo Matsuzaka

132

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Jul 26 '24 at 09:48

2

You can edit a PDF on Dropbox.com, if you use that service. Dropbox has official support for a desktop syncing client.

answered Jul 26 '24 at 09:48

ahorn

121

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 15 '25 at 18:45

If you look for a solution that provides a real digital signature according to PAdES:
The only solution I found working is the KDE app Okular.
This even has out-of-the box support for using a private key on a smart card via PKCS#11.

Simply open the document to sign with this app, select Tools > Digitally Sign...,
enter the password or smart card PIN for the private key (may need to do twice depending on the card),
draw a rectangle that is large enough for printing your name and signature date,
possibly need to enter the password or PIN again, and
possibly need to select the certificate related to the private key used for signing.

More detail on using Okular for signing may be found here and here.

score 0 · Answer 9 · 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.

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 22 '25 at 08:29

0

I have used GIMP for adding signature to the PDF. Follow these steps:

Click on File menu and Open the PDF file.
Choose the Pencil Tool and draw your signature.
Click on File menu and Export as PDF file.

answered Jan 22 '25 at 08:29

Péter Szilvási

103