Why pay for Adobe? You don't need it!

[@AJKammerer]

Thank you!!! I just installed and set this up. Been struggling with signing pdfs and not wanting to pay (yet another) subscription fee to adobe! This is awesome!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Hope it solves your signing woes.

[@jim7smith]

Thanks so much for this one, Brian. I have been using for years, a great pdf editor for which I paid, Master PDF Editor. I am looking forward to trying this one for sure. Thanks again.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

My pleasure.

[@brodriguez11000]

PDFGear is another.

[@notsocc]

Well, that was easy! I was editing PDFs using an old Adobe Acrobat licence, via virtual Windows 7 (it only works in Win 7) which was a real faff. Brian, you are brilliant. Now, onto your next video !

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Thank you so much!

[@n1o2s3t4radamus]

Love your videos, Brian. You are truly an inspiration for aspiring homelab enthusiasts. Keep bringing out these open-source videos that help the community!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Thanks! Will do!

[@sycoclownx]

I really like this and I wish I could use it. I have tried similar tools like pdf24 but my users balked. They aren't opening the pdf in an app and they are click on different tools to open the PDF to do what they can do in one pane of glass with Adobe. I hate the refusal to change internal processes and learn something new.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Change is hard, for sure.

[@marcq1588]

One issue is that it can not be used as default application for the PDF files in the system? You always have to launch your docker container if not yet running, then go to the URL, then open your file selection dialog, blah blah blah. You can't just double-click your PDF file and see it open in your Stirling application? That is a bummer and probably a reason why enterprises and individuals might not use it. Only people who have to manipulate PDF files will want this, but it can't be used as a default PDF viewer, for which Acrobat Reader is still free. But it is a great free alternative to Acrobat Pro or other paid PDF applications. Thank your for this video.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

True, this is not going to be your default viewer, but you don't need Acrobat. PDF will open in any modern browser, and there are multiple open source applications that can open and display PDFs on all of the OSes out there.

[@enalaxable]

@@AwesomeOpenSource @marq1588 LibreOffice in win11 can import PDF's , rotate and do a few cahnges. Acrobat won't allow even a free rotate 90Deg :) To be honest, I'm lost with this Docker compose. What videos are required to make sense of this one? Difference of Docker RUN and COMPOSE (in latest StrilingPDF on Git)?

[@rajmajumdar5253]

This has a windows/Linux app use that if you wnat

[@irened9961]

Damn. As much as I'm annoyed with Adobe re what they've done to Acrobat Pro, I don't want the inconveniences you've outlined.

[@enalaxable]

@@rajmajumdar5253 hm I missed that! you mean app like a local install? if you have a link I'd appreciate it!

[@nzlemming]

OMG I have been looking for something like this. Thank you!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Glad it helped you out.

[@kflangan]

The beauty of containerized applications. I got it up and running in under 10 minutes!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

That's awesome!

[@KenPryor]

I've used Stirling off and on for a while and it's pretty great. I don't have a huge need for it right now but it's nice to have when the need arises.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Glad it's working for you.

[@ymfeijo]

For privacy reasons, I would prefer it as an app rather than a website.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Understand. It's not for everyone.

[@ymfeijo]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Sorry about that, I didn't mean to bother you.

[@IslamicAudiobooksCentral]

Yes a one-click install would be nice but you can run it locally on your computer. I didn't go the docker route, didn't even check for dependencies - just downloaded and ran the jar file they provided and it worked! Not sure if all of the features will work - I only tried a few. They have a survey going on now and if enough people ask them to bundle everything in a flatpak and snap, perhaps they'll consider a desktop app...

[@stevebabiak6997]

I was hoping that signing would be more like what we might see with for example Docusign. And that a signature box could be placed as needed, with the signature then being inserted with a click. Adding initials is also used, per page of documents that get signatures.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I think there are some open source options for Docusign. See what i can find.

[@domojestic4155]

A question that's likely better suited for the devs, but why make this a "self-hosted" web application at all? Why not just make this an installable app? I feel like having to setup a server just to edit PDFs is a massively unnecessary hurdle, especially for the layman. Doesn't this worsen the problem of open-source solution only being for techies?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

You could always ask about potentially having this made into an Electron or Neutralino JS application. That would make it more of a Desktop app.

[@domojestic4155]

@@AwesomeOpenSource I actually made a discussion post on their repo, and they mentioned Electron! However, they let me know that setting it up as a server-side Docker webapp was easier for them at the outset, and that porting it over to a different format would likely take development time and money they simply don't have. Time to take the wallets out, I suppose! 😃

[@vishnumuralidhar5659]

I am loving these contents. I have been using linux a while. Subscribed

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Great to hear!

[@stilwellj201]

Brian great video. I hope you do a follow up video to show how to setup auto scan folders and for pipeline tasks.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I'll see what I can do. Got a lot of things going right now.

[@gah-mutisalvanusyevalla5296]

Good content you have here and I have decided to build a small MSP. Thanks a lot for the didactic content. I don't know whether you can find time to install dify!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I'll take a look and see what I can find out.

[@jerryolson6330]

Looks like a cool app, but I have to agree with Starlight-AG on this... the install acrobatics required are a game-ender for me.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I understand completely, it's not for everyone.

[@Starlight-AG]

Looks like a cool program but the install of Docker etc makes it a non-starter for the average user. I am a techie of many decades and I have no interest in all the setup mumbo-jumbo. As others have mentioned, Make it an installable stand alone app for Linux or Windows and you have my interest. 😁

[@StirlingPDF]

There is a .exe in every release! (it launches a server tho along with users default browser to view it in)

[@HemanthJabalpuri]

​@@StirlingPDFBut it's not a full version!

[@marinlos]

Amazing app. It's a shame it's so cumbersome to setup and install. I wonder why it can't be install through a simple Flatpak or snap

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

It's a web application which requires a web server to run, but I suppose someone could potentially turn i into an electron app, where electron just points to the web application running. Not sure what that would take, but it would then go into the flatpak and / or snap store.

[@marinlos]

@@AwesomeOpenSource thanks for your reply. I get it, that would make it necessary for someone to host the app to make it available then of course. I guess the developer is not willing to do that investment and that's understandable. I hope it gets more support, so that may be possible. Thanks for helping these kinds of projects get people's attention 👍🏼

[@MiDiCur]

Thank you . Excellent tutorial got it up and running in no time thanks to you.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Excellent!

[@ericwoudstra1531]

Hello Brian - thanks for this. I found an error in the show notes for docker compose - the first line has a typo. I recommend removing it and adding the following to the top: version: '3.3' services:

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Hey thank you. I have updated it. I added the missing 's', but not the version, as docker compose has deprecated the version line.

[@jeffwelvaert1494]

Thanks. Have you tried using Dockge? I had Stirling PDF up and running in less than 30 seconds which included grabbing the Docker Compose file.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I've looked at it, but it doesn't really fit the pattern under which I setup my docker stuff, so migrating everything would be a bit of a chore. I do think it looks interesting though.

[@d.d.z.]

Funny thing: the ad at the beginning was from Adobe 😂

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Yeah, KZbin is really on it with knowing their audience.

[@youtubeviewer7077]

Looks useful, thanks! It's unfortunate they made it a web server in a container rather than a native Gtk/Qt app. Having to run a container and web browser to use seems really bloated and inconvenient and the upload/download file flow seems kind of awkward. Still, it looks like a handy wrapper for all the various PDF tools.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I think it being a web app is nice, as I can run it on one machine, and access the tool from any machine on my network. No need to install it over and over and over, and I can use it on my mobile devices as well.

[@m1cajah]

Can one create editable forms with this (with submission to databases) like with Adobe? Been looking for an alternative that can do that. We don't have staff to build a website and forms for some of our data collection needs.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I'd say look at thte Low Code / No Code tools like ToolJet, Baserow, NocoDB, Budibase, AppSmith, etc. Those are more likely to give you the results you are wanting, and are purpose built for data collection.

[@ScottLutzNCG]

Love the videos! You have such a great way of explaining things that just make sense, Awesome is an understatement! I do have a question, what is the update process when the app lets you know of an update? Do you do this through the Terminal?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

If you set it up like I did, just go back into the folder for it in the CLI (command line interface) and then do these two commands: docker compose pull docker compose up -d you never have to bring down the server.

[@ScottLutzNCG]

@@AwesomeOpenSource thank you so much for the information, I really do appreciate it!!

[@asus12351]

Been looking for something like this for a while will definitely be trying it out.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

That's awesome! Hope it helps.

[@octothorpian_nightmare]

Cool, I'm gonna throw this up on my Proxmox server. Sure beats recreating a doc with groff and making a PDF from that...

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Agree!

[@nathanoneiric]

Omfg I been looking for a good PDF editor in Linux for so long, thank you :)

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

You bet.

[@Smjork]

Try "Master PDF Editor", free for personal, non-commercial use, multi-platform, just as strong as Acrobat Pro and much, much cheaper per license if you decide to buy one. There's also PDF-Sam, also multi-platform, with an almost identical layout (of tools) as Sterling's main page, but standalone and with less tools than Sterling-PDF.

[@mikelieberman6924]

I installed it (not for the newbie using Debian Linux as the instructions aren't right). BUT OK I got , it running. What I wanted it for was something that Adobe Acrobat Pro does really well, compress files while preserving the links and bookmarks. A number of utilities compress but lose the links. Unfortunately this product doesn't even fail at that level. It completely failed to compress successfully, leaving me with a 2K file from a 2,8M document. Maybe the rest of code this works well, but I am 100% unimpressed.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Sorry it didn't work for you. You might open an issue on their github, so they are aware tha tit's not doing what you expect.

[@StirlingPDF]

Yes please raise a github ticket! we are happy to try help or support on issues etc

[@mikelieberman6924]

@@StirlingPDF, I'll try, but I have never opened a github ticket before. So, no promises.

[@oskar3514]

Brian, thanks for sharing the info about this tool, it's going to be really useful!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

You bet!

[@Myrulv]

Nice! Any plans for creating Table Of Content (TOC)?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Do you mean the ability to add a TOC in the PDF? If so, that's question for the devs for sure.

[@TazzSmk]

it's especially useful on phones and tablets, been using it for months :)) that said, I can't yet imagine use in big company, might need some kind of user management, clustering and more languages supported

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Thanks for sharing

[@80robina]

is there another pdf editing tool that doesnt need to be web hosted, ie like just getting it via apt install ?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Not that I'm aware of. You can piece together different things, and LibreOffice can do a lot, but it's mostly through the 'Draw' program, so really not editing, but marking on top of the PDF like it's an image.

[@stephenlau3690]

Great video, what's the ram and cpu requirement for this tool?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Pretty low I think, though I didn't check for sure. I'm sure 1 cpu and 2 G RAM is more than enough.

[@BlueBearOne]

But we DO need Adobe. Who else is going to trick us into giving them our creative work to train their own A.I. by sneaking an addendum into a EULA? Well...lot's of companies but Adobe does it best these days!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

So true.

[@alf8718]

Seriously? Why even bother. One can create an office document (preferably using Libre office with a build-in support for exporting PDFs)and save it (save natively to be able to make changes later and export) as pdf. And the editing options of existing pdf's are very limited using this set of tools (Stirling). Also kind of awkward. Is it possible to do anything offline? And to be completely honest I don't understand many very positive comments some even enthusiastic about this Stirling software. Have all the employees of Stirling got the asingnment to comment on this video engaging therir family members and friends also, maybe to make as many comments as possible using different accounts. This is the best explanation I can think of.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Maybe it's not for you.

[@markc871]

Why bother commenting?

[@alf8718]

@@markc871 Why bother making stupid videos? Surely takes some time and some effort, mcuh more than just posting an honest comment.

[@Pain53924]

How to merge pdfs then?

[@mauricegeurtzen]

Great tutorial. Thanks!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@noahgrayhek1100]

Is it possible to install as a web application and make it a default application for PDF documents?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Not that I know of.

[@robertodepetro1996]

Hi and thanks for the video. How can I add more languages for ocr (italian) on docker? thanks

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Here's a link to their docs on adding OCR languages. I hope it helps. github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF/blob/main/HowToUseOCR.md

[@robertodepetro1996]

@@AwesomeOpenSource thanks

[@guizot2010]

Can this program scan for accessibility and manage accessibility tags?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I don't think so, but seems like a great request oto make to the project.

[@rey6253]

Very useful video, thanks :)

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ibeezhashin]

Adobe has its place. I prefer linux. Not sure why but CUPS doesn't print out barcodes correctly especially when it comes to mailing labels 4*6 I have to leave a VM running windows. I prefer PDFs to get printed by PDF element. Something with the way the PDF prints - the USPS clerks can barely get a scan on any thing from a Linux box. So Adobe, print queues and games (yes windows still has the prestigious gaming experience)as a Linux and FOSS fanboy - windows still has a few reasons to exist

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I'm sure for some things there is a reason for now.

[@bajerra9517]

Love this open-source alternative! Thanks for sharing, Totally agree - there are plenty of great free options out there. Kudos to you for spreading the word. big thanks

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

My pleasure.

[@brodriguez11000]

Wonder if that electronic signature uses eIDAS?

[@VeraTechgh]

I did it. Thank you so much🥰🥰 check from reply

[@VeraTechgh]

hosted and ready to share

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Great job!

[@denncorby4115]

Can this create accuy fillable PDFs?

[@doctor24UA]

Hi cannot Edit the PDF files. If i need change txt into PDF but i cannot do this. Or its same New version ?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I don't understand exactly. Are you trying to edit a PDF, or convert a txt file into a PDF? There are options to do both of those in this application.

[@doctor24UA]

@@AwesomeOpenSource sorry for my English. I meant that there is no way to edit the PDF file. Let's say you need to change the text inside the file. I looked through all the options in this program and didn’t find what I needed. For example, I open a PDF in Adobe Acrobat and can edit the file there. where is this opportunity?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

@@doctor24UA you can use the convert to ODT or DOC option. Edit then re export to PDF.

[@doctor24UA]

@@AwesomeOpenSource you're right, I can. but not the users I work with. It is difficult for the user to remember even a few simple actions. They need to open the file and immediately be able to edit. Let's hope that this feature will be added in future versions. Thank you.

[@NoName-ws9qv]

you really have to want a free pdf software pretty bad to go through installing docker and all the components to make it run a web server on your pc just for that

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I imagine most people will have a homeland already, or have been thinking about it. But I think the freedom of open source is worth it.

[@SierraKilo76]

Does anyone know, if it is possible to create forms that I can be send to someone to fill them out. Yes, I tried to find out by looking at their webpage. But I haven't found something. Might be my english which isn't the best in the world :(

[@antofroodle]

Not currently sorry 😔

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Not with this tool, no. But you can create the form in libreoffice and export that as a PDF.

[@SierraKilo76]

@@antofroodle Thank you.

[@SierraKilo76]

​@@AwesomeOpenSource Thank you.

[@favourlandquayson9407]

sure, google form, jotform, microsoft form are all available for your task

[@El-Ge]

By the way, how to download and install it into windows OS?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

stirlingtools.com/docs/Getting%20started/Installation/Local/Windows%20Installation/ Maybe that will help you.

[@rpatros]

Wow that is an excellent tool

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

It's awesome!

[@usamakhushk1]

very good video thanks. 🥳

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@murat4189]

could not install this! please help

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Need to understandmore where you had issues.

[@kristof9497]

Thanks.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

You're welcome

[@webdrakib]

Thanks

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

No problem

[@Noctudeit]

Online software is a complete nonstarter for anyone working with sensitive documents.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

This isn't "online". You can run this completely offline without any internet connection. Just because it opens in a web browser doesn't mean it's online.

[@PaulG.x]

@@AwesomeOpenSource I service a DNA analysis instrument that has it's entire user interface running in Chrome browser on Ubuntu on an integral PC. It never goes online.

[@UnderC2]

I clicked on this video and got a adobe ad, good job adsense.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Wow! Way to know the audience KZbin. Geez.

[@ThoughtFission]

So you can't edit with this?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

You can edit with it. I demonstrate one method int he videeo.

[@stevecurrier2462]

Work with Linux mint?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Sure, it runs in Docker, so should work on any distro that will use Docker.

[@diazepamkit]

so basically this a source code that every pdf converter site has? ilovepdf, smallpdf and such thing. niceeee

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Yes, correct

[@Albertkallal]

Does it render overprint views correctly?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I don't know what overprint is, so can't really say.

[@Albertkallal]

@@AwesomeOpenSource I'll have to give it a try. You can google pdf overprint simulation. All this means is that for print ready PDF's, then the concept is that you lay down colors as ink, and thus the PDF document will look rather ugly if you don't turn on overprint simulation. Overprint simulation thus renders the PDF correctly when viewing it, since it can "simulate" laying layers of ink down on paper. So, for corporate logos etc., then without overprint simulation, then things don't render correctly. I'm Actually looking for a web based PDF viewer that has this feature. (pdf.js - the same library used in chrome engine for example does not support this feature).

[@andrewgrillet5835]

Does it read 3D PDFs?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I don't know what a 3D PDF is.

[@63801170]

As a Windows user looking to see if there is a way to work without Windows... I get to 13:20 Installation. I don't understand why this is the requirement of Linux and Git-hub projects? You need low-level system skills to be able to access these alternative product solutions or projects. Why is there no "installation" system on Linux (or that can be applied to Windows) promoted via Git-hub projects that... you know... "installs" these solutions, like a Windows or Mac experience?

[@rasonbryant]

This tool in particular was designed to be web base, so there isn't a installer as it's not made to run on a computer as a program per se which is why it needs docker which basically builds the webserver for you to use locally. there are Linux and window free and open source tools for pdf that are easy installs, you just have to research which is the best.

[@63801170]

@@rasonbryant Thanks for the explanation and clarification on the "web server" angle.

[@antofroodle]

Few things extra to add You can install docker desktop on a Windows machine to set this up for that's that want a windows web server Also Stirling pdf had a .exe installer as well but it needs java jdk 17 installed and is a lighter weight version with conversions and OCR

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

As the other folks stated, this is intended to be run as a web application (even if only locally), thus docker is the route to make it able to easily run on all OSes that support docker (which is most).

[@RonnieRedd]

Is there a vm way, or does it require docker? I don't do containers

[@therealslimaddy]

Anything that is runnable in docker is runnable in vm (viceversa) If you can manage all the dependencies that is (in case of VM)

[@Lunolux]

what is the purpose to run it in VM ? (it dont need a lot of ram/cpu)

[@RonnieRedd]

@Lunolux don't want to get into a lot of back and forth. However, containers add complexity for maintenance and security. If it doesn't need much, don't give it much.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I believe there are packages you can install, not just in docker. I linked to the github in the description. They'll list the ways you can install there.

[@tjmarx]

Think I'll stick with Adobe. Everything is just there in a user friendly interface and isn't separate tools.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

If that works for you, and you already have the version you need, it's a great tool for sure.

[@PlanetMezz]

Windows Version?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

It runs in Docker, so it will run on Windows Docker, MacOS Docker, etc.

[@AlNayeem]

android available?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

You can set it up on your desktkop, and then point to the desktop IP and port with your phone.

[@kbauer57]

Morphos + StirlingPDF are the best

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Very nice!

[@peterwassmuth4014]

Awesome Thank you for Sharing! 💯✴ If it’s not costing money, it’s costing something else. (You!) If you got it for free! someone paid for it. (You!) Nothing is free. Everything has to be paid for. (You!) Usually your private credential to a third-party seller.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Indeed.

[@radu81x]

it's GPL licensed and you need to host it yourself. what are you trying to say?

[@MurTadaAlThawab]

is it possible to edit text ?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Yes. I show how in the video.

[@mangiblotarinawabag4964]

Just use master pdf. Better, easier, more convenient.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

But sadly, not open source.

[@Codger2015]

This docker business is much too confusing. How about the simple old type installation by double clicking on an executable file and done. Your audience may not all be familiar with your docker business so what I need, and I suspect others as well, is the brain-dead simple method of double clicking the executable file and go with that. I won't be able to install Stirling-PDF unless I can do so with an executable and not have to fuss with all this other stuff you are doing. Pretend I am super uneducated about installing programs (which I am not) and provide a much simpler method.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Docker is a great tool for running sandboxed applications and web-service applications. It's really and truly just a very small virtual machine with an application running inside of it.

[@onlyhexonotop4313]

Bro Zammad ticketing System

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I know. Sorry, recorded it, and another, getting ready to add 3 or so episodes to the MSP series soon. Just going through editing now.

[@BevanAgard]

I can't wait for the zammad videos as well. We use it here in major production. One of my techs commented that they don't know how they got along without it and can't remember what it was like in the before times. We love Zammad. Will be looking into setting up Stirling for our users

[@onlyhexonotop4313]

@@BevanAgard is there any issues you having with zammad?

[@onlyhexonotop4313]

@@AwesomeOpenSourcehope will get video soon, so will implement it on our server 😁😁

[@hammerheadcorvette4]

Donate to Open Source.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Indeed. Always.

[@fhariqaulady3595]

Thankss, its really works. goodbye smallpdf ilovepdf etc etc

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Awesome!

[@MehrdadGivehchi]

thanks for this video! I followed everything and for some strange reason I get tons of errors and the application does not come up properly. anyone else is having this issue? The 1st of many error messages I get is: Stirling-PDF | 14:31:35,617 |-ERROR in ch.qos.logback.core.rolling.RollingFileAppender[AUTHLOG] - openFile(logs/invalid-auths.log,true) call failed. java.io.FileNotFoundException: logs/invalid-auths.log (Permission denied) I have confirmed the folders created that are attached to the docker are all have proper access rights. it looks like there is something within the container that is throwing the exception thanks in advance!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I think you may just have a permissions issue on one of your folders or volumes.

[@MehrdadGivehchi]

you were right and many thanks!@@AwesomeOpenSource