I am looking for a solution to collaborative PDF editing (mostly annotations). I already have a Nextcloud installation with Office for several members so it would be great if it could be integrated, but it is not necessary.

What I mainly want is the possibility to add and view annotations made by several users on the same file at the same time.

Do you have a suggestion?

  • irmadlad@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 day ago

    Stirling PDF

    https://docs.stirlingpdf.com/Functionality/Read-and-Annotate/

    Read & Annotate is a full-featured PDF viewer that lets you:

    • Read PDFs in a clean, focused interface
    • Add annotations, comments, and notes
    • Highlight and markup text
    • Draw freehand on pages
    • Add shapes, arrows, and callouts
    • Insert text boxes and sticky notes
    • Collaborate by marking up documents
    • Save annotated PDFs for sharing

    Think of it as your digital PDF notepad - read, review, and mark up documents all in one place.

    It says it do. Other than that, I’ve never deployed it.

    • EarMaster@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      18 hours ago

      I have an installation of Stirling PDF, but in my short experiment it had no ability to collaborate on the same document.

      Every edit created a new copy of the document downloaded to the user. The annotations weren’t tagged to the individual user and sending different versions of a PDF from user to user is not what I am looking for.

      Stirling is a single user software in that regards. I haven’t tested the also mentioned BentoPDF but I suspect it to be the same as it is also trying to be a PDF toolbox like Acrobat. PdfDing has a slightly different approach it might be an option if OnlyOffice does not work out.

      • irmadlad@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        18 hours ago

        Hmmmm…sorry to steer you wrongly. I mean, gosh it says it does all annotation and collaboration. I assumed ‘collaboration’ to mean multi-user collaboration. Hard to collaborate by yourself.

        • EarMaster@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          2·
          17 hours ago

          I am thankful for any input. Maybe it helps someone else looking for a similar thing.

          I think the collaborative part means sending PDFs from user to user and maintaining the ability to edit annotations. That may work for many use cases - a lot of businesses may be fine with that when email is still the communication medium of choice.