Editing, Signing & Converting PDFs on Linux – 2026 Guide
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If you’re moving from Windows to Linux you’ll quickly notice that Adobe Acrobat isn’t available. Fortunately the ecosystem provides several capable tools that cover most everyday PDF tasks without a subscription. This guide focuses on concrete workflows—editing text, adding annotations, applying digital signatures, and converting PDFs to other formats—using only the applications listed in the directory.
All the programs mentioned are installable from Flathub or your distro’s repository, so you can keep your system up‑to‑date with the usual package manager. Choose the tool that matches the complexity of the job: lightweight viewers for quick annotations, full‑featured editors for form work, or office suites for batch conversions.
Basic Viewing and Annotation
OkularOpen SourceKostenlosFlatpakDetails → Okular is a solid default PDF viewer for KDE but works well on any desktop. It lets you highlight text, add inline notes, and draw shapes. Annotations are saved in the PDF itself, so the file can be shared with Windows users without losing the markup. For occasional reading and light commenting, Okular’s performance and keyboard shortcuts make it a comfortable replacement for Acrobat Reader.
Handwritten Notes and Simple Markup
Xournal++Open SourceKostenlosFlatpakDetails → Xournal++ shines when you need freehand notes, signatures, or sketchy annotations. Load a PDF, use a stylus or mouse to write directly on the page, and export the result as a new PDF. The app also supports typed text boxes, making it useful for filling out short forms without a dedicated form editor.
Full‑Featured PDF Editing
Master PDF EditorFlatpakDetails → Master PDF Editor provides a graphical interface similar to Acrobat’s for editing text, images, and form fields. You can rearrange pages, add or delete them, and insert hyperlinks. The proprietary license means some advanced features (like OCR) may require a paid license, but the free version covers most editing needs for everyday documents.
Open‑Source Editing with LibreOffice Draw
LibreOffice DrawOpen SourceKostenlosFlatpakDetails → LibreOffice Draw can open most PDFs and treat each page as a drawing canvas. It’s handy for tweaking layout, replacing images, or adjusting vector graphics. After editing, export back to PDF. While not as polished as Master PDF Editor for text flow, Draw’s integration with the LibreOffice suite makes it a good choice if you already use LibreOffice for other documents.
Digital Signatures
Master PDF EditorFlatpakDetails → Master PDF Editor includes built‑in support for digital signatures. Import a PKCS#12 certificate, place the signature field, and sign the document. The signature is embedded according to the PDF specification, so recipients on Windows or macOS can verify it without extra software.
Batch Conversion to Office Formats
LibreOffice WriterOpen SourceKostenlosFlatpakDetails → LibreOffice Writer can import PDF files and then save them as .docx, .odt or plain text. Open the PDF, choose “File → Save As,” and select the desired format. For large batches, use the command‑line tool libreoffice --headless --convert-to docx *.pdf. This approach replaces Acrobat’s export feature without needing a commercial product.
Converting PDFs to Images or Text
PDFeditOpen SourceKostenlosFlatpakDetails → PDFedit offers low‑level access to PDF objects, which can be useful for extracting embedded images or cleaning up unwanted metadata. For simple PDF‑to‑image conversion, combine pdfedit with ImageMagick (convert file.pdf page.png). This workflow is script‑friendly and works well on headless servers.
Lightweight Reading on GNOME
EvinceOpen SourceKostenlosFlatpakDetails → Evince is the default GNOME document viewer. It provides basic search, table of contents navigation, and simple annotation tools. If you only need to read PDFs and add occasional highlights, Evince’s minimal footprint keeps your desktop snappy.
Fazit
For most former Acrobat users, a combination of Okular (viewing/annotation), Master PDF Editor (full editing and signing) and LibreOffice Draw or Writer (conversion) covers the essential tasks. Xournal++ adds a natural way to sign or hand‑write notes, while Evince or Foliate can serve as lightweight readers when you don’t need extra features.
Häufige Fragen
Can I edit scanned PDFs on Linux?
Yes. Use Master PDF Editor’s OCR plugin (if you have the paid version) or run Tesseract OCR separately, then open the searchable PDF in LibreOffice Draw for further editing.
Is there a completely free alternative to Acrobat’s digital signature feature?
Master PDF Editor’s free version supports basic digital signatures. For fully open‑source signing, you can use gpg to create a detached signature, but the result won’t appear as an embedded visual signature in the PDF.
How do I batch convert many PDFs to Word documents?
Install LibreOffice, then run libreoffice --headless --convert-to docx *.pdf in a terminal. This converts each PDF in the current directory to a .docx file without opening the GUI.
What if I need to fill out interactive PDF forms?
Master PDF Editor handles most interactive form fields. Okular can display them but does not allow filling. For simple forms, Xournal++ can also be used to type over the fields and save a new PDF.