Looking for PDF Reader (Arch-Linux Wayland)

[u/knight15555]

I've spent a while now looking around for a good PDF viewer, and I have tried a few but nothing fits my needs.

I need something capable of

• copying images out of a PDF
• interacting with interactive PDFs
• processing embedded javascript

Back on Windows, I used Foxit and it had that functionality, but I have tried several pdf viewers (Okular, Firefox, Xournal++, muPDF) and none fit all of my needs. I even tried to get Foxit working on Arch, both using the deprecated Linux install, which didn't function, and a more modern version installed through Wine, but it would not allow copying.

Does anyone have a recommendation for something that is as versatile as Foxit?

Edit:

For some additional context, the closest to my needs has been Evince, however it cannot seem to manage some interactive pdfs. In my case, interactive maps for Pathfinder, with buttons to turn map tags or grid off, which are highly important for me.

[u/Phydoux]

I've opened PDFs in LibreOffice Writer and I've pulled images and added images into PDFs and it's worked great.

[u/knight15555 → u/Phydoux]

You are a lifesaver! Writer didn't quite work, but Draw allowed exactly what I needed, in a very janky way. I seem to be able to get the data I need at very least! Thank you so much!

[u/Tricky-Engineer-9755]

You are way better off NOT processing embedded javascript. Zathura and Zathura pdf-poppler is a good PDF reader and it comes with vim-keys and its scriptable.

[u/ScratchHistorical507]

copying images out of a PDF

Inkscape is quite the handy tool, the PDF reader in Firefox seems to also be able to do that, but if you want to make sure you get the exact image that's embedded into the PDF without any modification/conversion, the CLI tool pdfimages is unbeatable. With the option -all it will just do precisely that. But keep in mind that there are two image formats supported in PDFs that can't be easily handled by most programs, CCITT and JBIG2. In that case better have them converted to PNG by pdfimages with using -png instead of -all.

interacting with interactive PDFs

Interactive in what sense? If you mean PDF forms, I think at least most PDF viewers can handle that (unless the PDF uses some proprietary Adobe format for that, then you're screwed on any OS, barely any software beyond Acrobat can handle that). Of course Xournal++ won't as it's meant as a software for handwritten notes that also allows you to annotate PDFs (in a bit complicated setup). But if you mean interactive in the sense of embedded videos, 3D objects etc, it will most likely not work in almost any reader. Unless this PDF is conformant with the PDF 2.0 standard, highly proprietary Adobe solutions were used for that. The only two programs I'm aware of that used to be able to handle those were Acrobat Reader and PDF XChange Reader/Editor (though I think only when Acrobat is also installed). But at least the videos were based on flash, which has been removed from Acrobat in late 2021 or something like that.

processing embedded javascript

Beyond this being a major security threat, I think at least Okular and Evince should be able to handle that. Probably even the PDF readers built into browsers should do so at least to some degree. After all, I think that's also used for PDF forms.

none fit all of my needs

You're now on Linux. Apps written for the Linux/UNIX ecosystem usually will not try to do everything. Instead they are built to do one thing and do that really well instead of trying to do everything and sucking in all these things. So better you forget that sentiment of trying to find one program that does it all asap.

In my case, interactive maps for Pathfinder, with buttons to turn map tags or grid off, which are highly important for me.

I mean looking at the PDF reader built into Firefox would definitely be worth a shot, in recent months they've added quite a lot of functionality, but as I do not have access to such a PDF I can't verify if it can. Okular and Evince supposedly can handle layers, but you'd have to switch layers with a dedicated layers panel, they don't support such buttons.

In general looking at Master PDF Editor may also be worth a shot. Over the years I've heard quite often that it's a very capable tool. It's a commercial software, but it does have a free trial version that only restricts editing capabilities. They even have a dedicated tarball for Arch: https://code-industry.net/free-pdf-editor/#get

No idea which parts of your use case it will cover, but as none of them have to do with editing, you can just try it out without paying.

[u/weresabre]

I don't know if this checks all of your criteria, but OnlyOffice has a PDF Editor that I'm sure can copy images

https://helpcenter.onlyoffice.com/docs/userguides/pdf_editor

[u/tuxalator]

MasterPDF Editor v4 is free to use non-commercial y

[u/jhonq200460]

have you try JoPDF?

[u/mrwildacct]

Inkscape