this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2026
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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?

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[–] EarMaster@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

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.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.world 3 points 1 day 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.