How copy/paste something in Writer on top of another (for example, type my name on a signature line without displacing the line)?

[Soffya]

Hi, so I’ve been trying to fill a normal pdf form (medical form), and since I have to put in personal info, I don’t feel comfortable using online tools. But I was told this can be done easily with Libreoffice. But guides i’ve found are for people creating a fillable pdf form from scratch (and seem complex), not converting one into a fillable form. What I really want to do is just be able to put a couple of X’s over the lines where it says if you have a certain illness, fill my name in one area, and that’s it.

So I opened the pdf file I had using Libreoffice Writer, but then as soon as I try to write something, it messes up the formatting, displacing things. See picture:

What am I doing wrong? Thanks.

[Brijesh]

Hi

Maybe you can try underline (select text & Control+U) whatever you are typing…

Or

You can insert a text box (without borders) and write text, adjust the text box above the line…

[ajlittoz]

Duplicate question at 312229/how-copypaste-something-in-writer-on-top-of-another-for-example-type-my-name-on-a-signature-line-without-displacing-the-line. Delete it.

[ajlittoz]

Filling a PDF form is ideally done with a PDF viewer. These usually include an “annotation” feature or a form-aware filling function.

LO Writer never opens PDFs. PDFs are seen by LO as a graphical files and are therefore routed to Draw. Draw manages PDF pages as a set of text boxes and graphical shapes. If you directly modify the text boxes, you’ll mess up formatting as you experienced because all text layout information has been lost when creating the PDF.

The only way you “fill in” a form with Draw is to add new graphical objects. To be safe, the original PDF should be set in its own layer and protected against modification. Then you can add new objects in your separate layer without any trouble. However, this is not user friendly because Draw has not been made to manage thoroughly PDF as an organised text document.

Once again, prefer a PDF viewer.

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[Soffya]

Thanks. Do you have any suggestions either about a free PDF viewer, or alternatively, a guide that explains in detail how to add new graphical objects (which as you mention is not user friendly)?

[ajlittoz]

There are many PDF viewers. Since you didn’t mention your OS, I can’t suggest any. I am under Fedora 34 with KDE Plasma desktop; I use by default Okular.