From Newsgroup: alt.comp.freeware

"PDFTK Builder Enhanced is a tool to combine (collate), split, decrypt, add background/stamp, password protect PDF files etc. It is a GUI frontend to the command-line PDFtk ( https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-server/ ).

Note that this project is a fork of Version 3 of PDFTK Builder ( https://www.angusj.com/pdftkb/ ) by Angus Johnson to:

Enhance the user interface
Add PDF operations and options
Update the program to be compatible with later versions of PDFtk

As such, it can be considered as a major upgrade to the original program."

https://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=1066

Updated to Version 4.1.9
Portable Version is available

Home Page
https://pdftk-builder-enhanced.sourceforge.io/

Project Page
https://sourceforge.net/projects/pdftk-builder-enhanced/
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.freeware

On 18/11/2025 11:57, Allan Higdon wrote:

"PDFTK Builder Enhanced is a tool to combine (collate), split, decrypt,
add background/stamp, password protect PDF files etc. It is a GUI
frontend to the command-line PDFtk ( https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-server/ ).

Note that this project is a fork of Version 3 of PDFTK Builder ( https://www.angusj.com/pdftkb/ ) by Angus Johnson to:

Enhance the user interface
Add PDF operations and options
Update the program to be compatible with later versions of PDFtk

As such, it can be considered as a major upgrade to the original program."

https://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=1066

Updated to Version 4.1.9
Portable Version is available

Home Page
https://pdftk-builder-enhanced.sourceforge.io/

Project Page
https://sourceforge.net/projects/pdftk-builder-enhanced/

I noticed that you had a batch of 4 new posts appeared within a couple
of minutes. Have you automated finding updates and posting about them or
is it all done manually by you? Just curious.
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.freeware

On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 12:50:46 +0000, MikeS wrote:

I noticed that you had a batch of 4 new posts appeared within a couple
of minutes. Have you automated finding updates and posting about them or
is it all done manually by you? Just curious.

I think it's semi automated. Gathering general information is automated, but gethering optional information is manual. Not all sites have Release Notes, FAQs, Project, etc. pages. And some softwares' Home page link points to
their Project page. e.g. some SourceForge hosted softwares.
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.freeware

On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 07:34:39 -0600, JJ <jj4public@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 12:50:46 +0000, MikeS wrote:

I noticed that you had a batch of 4 new posts appeared within a couple
of minutes. Have you automated finding updates and posting about them or
is it all done manually by you? Just curious.

I think it's semi automated. Gathering general information is automated, but gethering optional information is manual. Not all sites have Release Notes, FAQs, Project, etc. pages. And some softwares' Home page link points to
their Project page. e.g. some SourceForge hosted softwares.

Any posts that interest me, along with the updates that I've posted, are kept locally in Opera Mail.
For updates, I copy the text of the message and modify the part that needs it. Like today, there are some programs I've never posted.
Gathering the information for those is not automatic, but it takes much less time than it used to.
All the messages that I intend to post are in the Drafts view, and selecting and posting each of them takes me less than a minute.
Thanks for asking. :)
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.freeware

Allan Higdon <allanh@vivaldi.net> wrote:

"PDFTK Builder Enhanced is a tool to combine (collate), split,
decrypt, add background/stamp, password protect PDF files etc. It is
a GUI frontend to the command-line PDFtk ( https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-server/ ).

"PDFtk Server is our command-line tool for working with PDFs. It is
commonly used for client-side scripting or server-side processing of
PDFs."

If I were to trial this, I'd disable my NICs to ensure the server
product did not have to connect out, and possibly leak my PDFs. Then
enable the NICs, load a network monitor, and check if this made any
outbound connections.

"A commercial license is required to distribute PDFtk with your
commercial product."

It is free for non-commercial use; else, you have to buy a license
($995). The personal-use version comes in 2 flavors: free, and Pro
($3.99). Some of the features you mentioned are in the Pro version, not
in the free version. The server program you mentioned is only with Pro.
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.freeware

On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 11:24:26 -0600, VanguardLH wrote:

If I were to trial this, I'd disable my NICs to ensure the server
product did not have to connect out, and possibly leak my PDFs. Then
enable the NICs, load a network monitor, and check if this made any
outbound connections.

But network monitor can't block unwanted network access. By the time you
know there's a network activity, snooped data (not necessarily PDF data) may already been sent. Firewall is best for this purpose. More preferrably, an
HIPS style prompt-by-default configure-on-prompt firewall.
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.freeware

JJ <jj4public@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 11:24:26 -0600, VanguardLH wrote:

If I were to trial this, I'd disable my NICs to ensure the server
product did not have to connect out, and possibly leak my PDFs. Then
enable the NICs, load a network monitor, and check if this made any
outbound connections.

But network monitor can't block unwanted network access.

That wasn't my point. If you don't LOOK, you won't know if it is making network connections, or not. You could define a firewall rule to block
all outbound connects by the program, but you still won't if it is
making any, or not. You can blindly block all connects that a program
*might* make, or you can see connections it makes to determine yourself
which, if any, to block or allow.
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.freeware

On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 11:24:26 -0600, VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:

Allan Higdon <allanh@vivaldi.net> wrote:

"PDFTK Builder Enhanced is a tool to combine (collate), split,
decrypt, add background/stamp, password protect PDF files etc. It is
a GUI frontend to the command-line PDFtk (
https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-server/ ).

"PDFtk Server is our command-line tool for working with PDFs. It is
commonly used for client-side scripting or server-side processing of
PDFs."

If I were to trial this, I'd disable my NICs to ensure the server
product did not have to connect out, and possibly leak my PDFs. Then
enable the NICs, load a network monitor, and check if this made any
outbound connections.

"A commercial license is required to distribute PDFtk with your
commercial product."

It is free for non-commercial use; else, you have to buy a license
($995). The personal-use version comes in 2 flavors: free, and Pro
($3.99). Some of the features you mentioned are in the Pro version, not
in the free version. The server program you mentioned is only with Pro.

I find no limitations for either the GUI program, PDFTK Builder Enhanced, or the command-line program, PDFtk Server.
They are both under a GPL License.

PDFtk Server Documentation
https://www.pdflabs.com/docs/pdftk-man-page/

All the features I posted from the description of the GUI on PortableFreeware are documented on the Home Page, https://pdftk-builder-enhanced.sourceforge.io/
and the Project Page, https://sourceforge.net/projects/pdftk-builder-enhanced/. --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.freeware

On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 05:57:44 -0600, Allan Higdon wrote:

"PDFTK Builder Enhanced is a tool to combine (collate), split, decrypt, add background/stamp, password protect PDF files etc. It is a GUI frontend to the command-line PDFtk ( https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-server/ ).

Updated to Version 4.1.9
Portable Version is available

Home Page
https://pdftk-builder-enhanced.sourceforge.io/

Thank you very much! I use this every now and then. Neat little app.
--
s|b
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.freeware

On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 09:13:11 -0600, Allan Higdon <allanh@vivaldi.net> wrote:

On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 07:34:39 -0600, JJ <jj4public@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 12:50:46 +0000, MikeS wrote:

I noticed that you had a batch of 4 new posts appeared within a couple
of minutes. Have you automated finding updates and posting about them or >>> is it all done manually by you? Just curious.

I think it's semi automated. Gathering general information is automated, but >> gethering optional information is manual. Not all sites have Release Notes, >> FAQs, Project, etc. pages. And some softwares' Home page link points to
their Project page. e.g. some SourceForge hosted softwares.

Any posts that interest me, along with the updates that I've posted, are kept locally in Opera Mail.
For updates, I copy the text of the message and modify the part that needs it.
Like today, there are some programs I've never posted.
Gathering the information for those is not automatic, but it takes much less time than it used to.
All the messages that I intend to post are in the Drafts view, and selecting and posting each of them takes me less than a minute.
Thanks for asking. :)

I should have posted that it is automated in that I subscribe to email notifications from GitHub and Softpedia for many of the program updates.
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2