Guaita PDF Edit

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Components: pdf.js 3.11.174 (Mozilla, Apache-2.0), pdf-lib 1.17.1, @pdf-lib/fontkit 1.1.1 (MIT) and node-forge for signing, all embedded in the file.

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The switch in the header separates the ways of working:

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1. File › Open or drag one or several PDFs onto the window. They are also recognised by the .pdf extension and opened in name order (plan 2 before plan 10), with progress and a final summary.
2. Edit (pages, annotations, content, bookmarks).
3. File › New document… creates a PDF from scratch: blank pages or one page per image (the image is fitted inside the page, centred; automatic size from the image or a chosen format).
4. Save current PDF generates a new PDF with all the changes.

Print shows a preview that compares the paper size with the PDF size and lets you choose paper (A4, A3…), orientation and scale. Merge all creates one document from all the tabs.

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The thumbnails on the left let you select (Ctrl+click), reorder by dragging, rotate, duplicate, extract, delete and insert blank pages or pages from another PDF. Thumbnail size changes by dragging the column edge or with Ctrl+wheel.

Page organiser

Dragged pages lift and follow the cursor (as a stack with a counter if there are several); the others move aside to open the gap where they will land. It scrolls automatically near the edges, Esc cancels the drag, and you can select with a marquee dragged over empty space (Shift or Ctrl adds to the selection). Each page shows its format (A4, A3…) and its number.

Page colours

Right-click a thumbnail › Page colour… puts a colour frame on the page (8 colours). The Pages bar has a colour legend: you can name each colour (e.g. Report, Drawings, Pending) and use it as a filter: clicking a colour dims the other pages (you can pick several); ◀ ▶ jump to the previous or next page with the filter and ✕ removes it. The colour is shown in the book view and in Compose nodes, and is saved inside the PDF; only Guaita reads it.

Bookmark ribbons

Every page with a bookmark shows a red bookmark ribbon on its right side, at the height of the destination. Hover to see the title; click to open it in the panel. Turn them on with View › Bookmark ribbons on the pages (single page, continuous views and organiser).

Split and index

• Pages › Split the document…: every N pages, by first-level bookmarks, by ranges, by blank pages, by format or by maximum size. Output as a ZIP, downloads or tabs.
• Pages › Index from the bookmarks…: generates editable A4 pages with dot leaders, page numbers (already counting the index) and clickable links, which also work in View mode.

Pages with their own /Rotate are displayed and saved correctly rotated.

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Pencil, highlighter, text, shapes, signature, images, watermark and page numbering. There are 3 pencils (translucent, thickness varies with speed) and 2 pens (opaque, constant thickness); each remembers its colour, thickness and opacity. With Select (V) you move, scale and rotate objects (with a rotation handle; Shift snaps to 15° steps) and change their order or opacity.

Right-click an annotation, image, signature, stamp or field for Apply to other pages…: all, odd, even, same format, selected or a range. Choose position relative to the nearest edge, absolute or proportional, and replace or delete the copies. In Header and footer you can apply to odd or even pages only; it accepts the fields [page] [total] [date] [file]…

In-place text and highlight text

In-place text (Shift+T): click the page and type directly; click an existing text to edit it, and Esc or a click outside confirms it. Highlight text (Shift+H): drag over the page text to highlight it; the text stays selectable.

Size and position in millimetres

With an image or an embedded page selected, right-click › Size and position… (or the selection toolbar button): width and height in mm (with a Proportion lock), Scale in %, Position X/Y in mm from the left and from the top, and Centre on the page. The dialog shows the original size, the page size and the right and bottom margins, and warns in red if the object extends beyond the page.

Embed a PDF page

Insert › PDF page… embeds a page from another PDF (or from any open document) inside the current page, as a vector (keeps text and lines) and with cropping: drag over the preview to choose the area, or press Whole page. If it cannot be embedded as a vector, it is inserted as an image. Once placed, it is moved, scaled and rotated like an image, and its size and position can be set in mm.

Measure

The Measure tool (M) has three modes in the selector next to the scale:

• Distance at the chosen scale (1:).
• Area and perimeter: click the vertices and close the polygon by clicking the first point, double-clicking or pressing Enter.
• Calibrate scale: click the two ends of a known dimension, type its real length in metres and the scale is computed for you.

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With the ✎ Content tool (X) click a text in the PDF to change it.

Click an image in the PDF to delete it, replace it or turn it into a movable object.

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The 🔖 Bookmarks tab shows the PDF's bookmark tree: read, create, edit and navigate.

• Ctrl+B adds a bookmark to the current page.
• Double-click or F2 to rename; drag to reorder or nest.
• You can change colour, bold, italic and the open/closed state.
• Alt+↑/↓ jumps to the previous or next bookmark.
• You can export the list to Markdown, LaTeX, CSV and JSON.

They are saved inside the PDF (/Outlines) and follow pages when extracting, duplicating and merging.

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Review mode adds real PDF annotations, which Acrobat and other viewers can read, reply to and change the status of:

• Notes (editable in a small window over the sheet, Ctrl+Enter saves) and margin notes with an arrow.
• Highlight, underline and strike out text by dragging over it. They are listed under the Text markups filter and exported to CSV or Markdown.
• Rectangles, ellipses, arrows, polygons and review clouds.
• Stamps (APPROVED, REJECTED, REVIEWED…, or custom, with author and date), also with a hand-made look and a rotation handle.
• File attachments at a point on the page.

The right panel lists all marks with filters by page, type, author and status, and lets you export them. You can hide or show all notes.

Sign

1. In Sign mode add a signature field or pick an existing one.
2. Load your .p12/.pfx certificate (RSA key or EC P-256, P-384 and P-521) and type its password.
3. Sign. The signature is PAdES and can be validated with Acrobat, pyHanko or pdfsig. EC and RSA signatures can be combined in a signer circuit.

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The side panel has four tabs: Pages, Bookmarks, Attachments and Layers.

• Attachments: add files (by dragging them or with the button), describe them, save them to disk or remove them. They are stored inside the PDF and the editor never opens them; executables are flagged.
• Layers: show and hide the layers (optional content) of CAD or BIM PDFs. The state applies to the view, to printing and to the saved PDF.
• File › Document properties…: title, author and other metadata.

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File › Merge composer… or Compose mode opens a node canvas. Connections carry lists of pages (solid wire) or of numbers, text and true/false (dashed wire). An incompatible connection is refused with a warning. Counts are shown on each wire.

Palette

At the top, always visible, Merge and Final document; below, the Documents (open PDFs) and Operations tabs. You can drag PDFs onto the sidebar (they open) or onto the canvas (each is placed as a source). All on canvas puts one source per document, connected to a new Merge.

Working on the canvas

• Multiple selection: Shift+click adds, Ctrl+click removes; Shift+drag draws a marquee (left to right, whole nodes only; right to left, also those it touches). Ctrl+A selects all and Esc clears. With several nodes, the right bar aligns, distributes, folds, unfolds and deletes.
• Groups with title and colour (Ctrl+G), notes and clusters: a folded group looks like a single node.
• My nodes: save a group as a reusable node. Recipe templates: 13 built-in plus your own, to reuse with other PDFs. They include architecture recipes: outline project report, construction project, submission for approval, tiled drawings and drawings to print on A3 (the keywords are editable; they are a starting structure, not a validation of what the CoAC requires).
• Each node's options are on the node itself and in the right bar; right-click offers the quick ones.
• In the preview strip, Relative size draws each page at true scale relative to the others (an A3 has twice the area of an A4); another click makes them all equal again.

Output

• Final document: one file per group or output, with a name pattern ({file} {doc} {group} {n}), nested bookmarks and the Reduce size on saving option.
• Multiple save (right bar with no node selected): downloads, ZIP or straight into a folder, with a CSV report.
• Document batch: the recipe is applied to each document separately (signed ones are excluded).

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File › Reduce size… optimises the current PDF. Pick a profile:

Clean-up removes metadata, thumbnails, JavaScript and automatic actions, attachments (optional), duplicate and unused objects; it compresses streams and can flatten annotations and forms. You see the size before and after with a breakdown. If the basic conditions are met, the result is “PDF/A-2b compatible”; otherwise you are told why.

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File › Export to DXF… converts the vector geometry of the current page, the selected pages or all of them into R12 (AC1009) DXF files, the most compatible format.

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Scan mode (header switch or File › Analyse suspicious PDF…) loads guaitaPDFscan 1.3 inside the editor, in an isolated frame (sandbox) with no access to the editor. The suspicious PDF is opened and analysed only in the analyser; in this mode the editor does not accept dropped files either.

1. Load the suspicious PDF and analyse it.
2. Disarm it and save it.
3. Press Open in guaitaPDF Edit: the editor validates the clean PDF, opens it as a new document and goes back to edit mode.

Connection security

Communication uses postMessage with a versioned protocol. The editor only accepts messages from the frame it opened, with app guaitaPDFscan, an ArrayBuffer of 1 B to 500 MB starting with %PDF- and a sanitised name (no \ / : * ? " < > |).

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Guaita PDF Edit can be installed as a desktop app (PWA): it opens in its own window, works offline, updates itself when there is a new version and can be chosen to open PDFs. Your files never leave your computer.

• Chrome: install icon at the right of the address bar, or menu ⋮ › Install Guaita PDF Edit.
• Edge: menu ··· › Apps › Install this site as an app.
• From the app: Help › Install as an app… menu.

Once installed, right-click a PDF › Open with › Guaita PDF Edit. If the app is already open, new PDFs are added as tabs in the same window. To make it the default app: Properties › Opens with › Change (Windows) or Get Info › Open with (macOS).

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