I use Adobe Acrobat professionally. I am also on Linux as a daily driver.
Bad news, it’s very very difficult.
If your gf’s use case involves sharing PDFs with other people at scale, there just isn’t a “low tech” solution. Every workaround I use involves some level of programmatic nonsense. For reading and relatively simple tasks, many of the open source alternatives do wonders, but they aren’t able to replicate some of the heavier features. Even when they are, you loose compatibility; something critical in certain workflows.
I am stubborn. I force my gimp files upon my Photoshop using colleagues. I edit videos in Blender instead of Premiere Pro (would recommend). I send open source documents and spreadsheets that work neither with my Google nor Microsoft devoted co-workers. But Adobe Acrobat wins. The FOSS readers are probably better, but for interactive, highly formatted outputs you can’t get around it.
I have a lonely second box at my work that I reluctantly boot windows on. I too would love an alternative.



You’re right that we should hold companies to account and expect them to do homework. Vigilance is good. Let’s extend that vigilance to monitoring Proton too. I think they’d approve of that.
Below is some stuff I think is interesting, but that is tangential and not intended as either endorsement or condemnation of Proton. (All intended in good faith!)
Your comment prompted me to look up their finances. For anyone interested, Proton AG seems to be valued at about 300 million (https://getlatka.com/companies/protonmail). However, I didn’t realize they are majority owned by a non-profit.
Some personal reflection, I am a French citizen living outside France (dual national). I had not heard of this guy. I probably should have. This is the kind of low awareness that makes me feel guilty about voting in the FR elections.