AnnexPDF – Manual

1. Overview

AnnexPDF is the native macOS PDF workspace of the AnnexCREATE suite: reading, annotating, editing, forms, security and conversion at Adobe Acrobat Pro level — but faster, offline-first, perpetual (one-time purchase) and DACH-compliant.

Core benefits:

• Universal, faithful rendering via pdfium (Chrome-grade), with a repair layer for damaged files from the custom Rust core
• Complete annotations (markup, drawing, notes, stamps, measuring) as standard PDF annotations — compatible with Acrobat and Preview
• Lossless page operations (merge, split, rotate, crop, delete, reorder) via the Rust core
• Forms (AcroForm): read, fill, create, flatten, FDF/XFDF/CSV import and export
• Security: passwords/encryption (AES-128/256), digital signatures (create, verify, manage), true redaction
• Standards: PDF/A-1b validation and conversion, PDF/X and PDF/UA basic checks, on-device OCR, scan cleanup, PDF from images, image/text export
• Suite integration: automation via the MCP interface (pdf.* tools), sample document, "Open in AnnexPDF"

AnnexPDF is part of the AnnexCREATE suite ("Creative OS"): the apps share a design system, common modules and the MCP automation interface, but can be used modularly. PDF is the native format — no proprietary lock-in.

2. Installation & Activation

AnnexPDF is installed and updated via AnnexHub — the suite's central place for apps, licenses, updates and assets. License management is centralized in AnnexHub; AnnexPDF itself is offline-first: all core features work without a server connection.

3. Basic Workflow

1. Open a PDF: File ▸ Open… (⌘O) or drag & drop onto the window. Recently opened documents appear in the Open menu. Damaged files are repaired automatically when possible.
2. Navigate: Switch between thumbnails (scalable, drag & drop reordering, multi-selection), outline and comment list in the left navigator. Sidebar and inspector can be toggled (⌘⌥L / ⌘⌥I).
3. Read: Zoom, single/continuous/two-page/book view in the viewer; full-text search via the find bar (⌘F) with hit navigation and highlighting.
4. Save: File ▸ Save (⌘S) writes changes into the document; File ▸ Save As… creates a copy. Annotations are stored as standard PDF objects.

4. Tool Modes in Detail

Choose the working mode at the top of the window:

• Read: selection, hand tool, text tool, search.
• Annotate: markup (highlight, underline, strikethrough, squiggly, caret), drawing (freehand, line, arrow, rectangle, ellipse, polygon, cloud), note, text, stamp, measuring. Color, opacity and stroke width per annotation; comment list with review status (accepted/rejected/completed/cancelled); XFDF import/export.
• Pages: merge, split, rotate, crop (cut tool with aspect-ratio presets), delete, reorder — lossless via the Rust core, with preview before applying.
• Edit: add text, URI links, replace/remove images, optimize, linearize (Fast Web View).
• Form: show AcroForm fields, fill them (written back into the PDF), create fields (text, checkbox, radio, combo/list box), flatten, and import/export via FDF, XFDF and CSV.
• Protect: sign the document (PKCS#12, visible widget), verify signatures, encrypt (AES-128/256 with permissions), decrypt, apply redaction.
• Export: OCR (on-device text recognition via Vision, invisible text layer), PDF from images, page as image (PNG/JPEG/TIFF), export text, auto-rotate pages, straighten scans (deskew).

5. Form Editor

Select the Form tool tab at the top of the window to edit existing AcroForm fields in a PDF. The editor displays all fields directly on the page and lets you adjust the layout without recreating them.

Move and resize fields

• Click a field to select it, then drag it to the desired position.
• Drag the handles at the corners and edges to resize. Aspect ratios are preserved where the field type allows.
• Hold Shift while clicking to select multiple fields. You can move the selection together or resize it proportionally using the handles.

Align fields

When multiple fields are selected, the toolbar offers alignment commands:

• Align left / right / top / bottom
• Centre horizontally or centre vertically

Alignment is based on the last active field or the combined bounding rectangle of the selection.

Automatic calculations

In the Form Logic view (right-hand area of the tab) you can mark fields as calculated. For sum fields such as Preis_Gesamt, the source fields are registered and the total is updated automatically as the form is filled. Open the field in the Logic view to inspect or edit the calculation formula.

Tab order

The order in which a user tabs through the fields is shown as a reorderable list in the Form Logic view. Drag entries to the desired position. The updated order is written into the PDF when you save.

Note: To create new AcroForm fields (text, checkbox, radio, list), to flatten forms, or to import/export values via FDF/XFDF/CSV, continue to use the Form tool tab. The Form Editor adds editing of existing fields to these capabilities.

6. Inspector: Document, Prepress and Standards Info

The right-hand inspector shows context-sensitive information:

• Document: PDF version, page count, current page, page size, rotation, color space, overprint, MediaBox.
• PDF/A: validation status (conforms / does not conform / no identification), declared variant, violation count, non-embedded fonts — including a "Convert to PDF/A-1b" button (writes XMP identification and an sRGB output intent, with re-validation).
• PDF/X: basic checks (GTS_PDFX identification, output intent, /Trapped, TrimBox/ArtBox, DeviceRGB restriction for PDF/X-1a).
• PDF/UA: basic checks (identification, marks, structure tree, language).
• Signatures: overview of all signature fields with verification status (valid, invalid, expired, untrusted).

7. OCR and Scan Cleanup

The Export tool tab contains the tools for scanned documents. Text recognition runs on-device via the macOS Vision frameworks.

7.1 OCR Workflow

• OCR single page or batch: Choose OCR for the current page or Batch OCR for the whole document. The batch dialog shows progress and allows cancellation.
• Languages: Set preferred languages per document; multiple languages are recognised in one run.
• Text correction mode: After OCR a side-by-side view opens with the recognised text next to the page. Uncertain words are highlighted; you correct them directly.
• PDF/A output: Save the result directly as PDF/A-1b or PDF/A-2u via the inspector or export dialog.

7.2 Scan Cleanup

For scanned pages the Export tab offers the following cleanups:

The cleanups can be applied individually or combined. The result is reversible until you save the document.

8. Automation (MCP)

The MCP host in AnnexHub provides agentic tools: pdf.open_document, pdf.merge, pdf.split, pdf.export_images, pdf.fill_form, pdf.sign, pdf.to_pdfa, pdf.redact and suite.run_smoke AnnexPDF. All tools act on real files (paths as arguments, JSON results) and do not require a running AnnexPDF app.

9. Diagnostics & Support

Errors and actions are logged locally via AnnexLog (rotating JSON logs in ~/Library/Logs/AnnexCREATE/AnnexPDF/, without personal file paths). Sample file: docs/examples/SampleDocument.pdf. Tutorial: docs/tutorials/en/AnnexPDF.md.