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·
        16 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·
          15 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·
            15 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.