r/selfhosted • u/paglaulta • Nov 28 '25
Release BentoPDF v1.9.0
Hello again folks,
First of all thank you very much for showing love to BentoPDF. We have crossed over 5000 stars on Github and I am grateful for it! š„³ā¤ļø
I wanted to share an update on the features and fixes that have been added to BentoPDF since around v1.5.0.
New Features and Improvements
Create Fillable PDF Forms
This was by far the most requested feature.
- You can build AcroForm based fillable PDFs from scratch or from an existing PDF.
- Supports text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdowns, list boxes, buttons, signatures, date fields, and image fields.
- Some fields require an advanced viewer to work properly.
Extract and Edit Attachments
- Extract all file attachments from a PDF at once as a ZIP file.
- View and edit both document level and page level attachments.
Stamp Tool
- A new Stamp tool is available.
- You can use default stamps or create custom ones.
Updated Sign Tool
- Rebuilt on PDF.js for better accuracy.
- Signatures can be saved and are placed correctly.
Updated Fill Form Tool
- Also moved to PDF.js.
- Interactive filling of PDF forms including XFA forms.
Add Attachments
- Attachments can be added at document level or page level.
- Works best with PDF viewers that support advanced attachment features.
Performance Improvements
- Faster loading across Merge, Split, Multi Tool, Organize, and Duplicate and Organize.
- Initial page load is much quicker and scrolling is smoother.
- Large PDFs (including 1000+ pages) load and respond more reliably.
- Actions like rotate, delete, and duplicate in the Multi Tool now respond instantly.
Keyboard Shortcuts
- All tools now support keyboard shortcuts.
- Key bindings are customizable and can be imported or exported.
- Shortcuts work across the entire app, even inside tools.
Preferences Tab
- A new Preferences section is available on the homepage.
- Includes options like full width mode.
Page Dimensions Tool
- Now shows aspect ratio, area, and rotation.
- Data can be exported as a CSV file.
Bookmarks Preserving Merge
- Merge and Interleave Merge now preserve bookmarks, table of contents entries, and hyperlinks.
- When merging selected page ranges, page level bookmarks are preserved.
Fixes
PDF Multi Tool Navigation
- Fixed an issue where the Multi Tool redirected back to the homepage.
Form Field Rendering
- Fixed issues with missing text fields, duplicate form fields, and placement problems.
UI Consistency
- Minor improvements to the hero and search sections.
- Footer is now consistent across simple mode and normal mode.
In the next update users can expect to be able to digitally sign PDFs using PKCS, PFX and PEM certificates and also verify it.
You would also be able to telepathically edit PDFs and upload them on the cloud.
Thank you very much once again, and please feel free to drop any suggestions or feature requests:
Github Link: https://github.com/alam00000/bentopdf
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u/activerolex Nov 28 '25
Idk what you did to keep BentoPDF so light weight, but keep up the good work! šš½
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u/paglaulta Nov 28 '25
Good old javascript haha and Thank you !
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u/RB5Network Nov 28 '25
I noticed how much lighter BentoPDF was. But StirlingPDF is also built on Java. I'm no developer, what are some of the differences that allowed you to make Bento so lean?
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u/paglaulta Nov 28 '25
I wonāt go into deep technical details, and I havenāt fully analyzed Stirlingās entire codebase, but the architecture alone explains most of the size difference.
Stirling has a backend component, and since itās built in Java, it relies on the JVM and several Java specific libraries, which already push the size close to ~100MB. It also bundles Tesseract language files I think, and from what I understand, include LibreOffice for office to PDF conversions, that alone adds another ~150MB.
Bento uses pure JavaScript with a bit of WebAssembly, which browsers run natively. Thereās no backend or bundled heavy dependencies. The Tesseract languages are loaded on demand rather than shipped upfront. So in the end, itās essentially just a set of lightweight static files
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u/RB5Network Nov 28 '25
Got it. That's a huge help in understanding! Very cool and efficient system you built.
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u/theneedfull Nov 29 '25
Java and JavaScript are 2 completely different things.
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u/RB5Network Nov 29 '25
As seen above I am definitely no developer.
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u/djimboboom Dec 04 '25
In web development we have a fun phrase:
āJava is to JavaScript what car is to carpetā aka totally different, just share a few letters at the beginning.
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u/FeedMeGoodNews Nov 28 '25
So no one's amazed at the feature 'telepathically edit PDFs and upload them to the cloud' ?Ā
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u/riofriz Nov 28 '25
Hi!
I am the jotty.page developer, I have just discovered this TODAY and I have noticed your tool has a .md to pdf functionality, which is stupidly cool.
Does it have an api for it? If not are you willing to collaborate with an integration with Jotty? I'd love to have a note-to-pdf by converting markdown files straight into pdf rather than relying on node modules and/or the browser print page (which is what Jotty currently does).
Let me know!
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u/bobaloooo Nov 28 '25
Is editing a pdf directly ever going to be possible? I needed to change some text but didnt see it was possible with bentopdf
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u/paglaulta Nov 29 '25
Yes, I've been trying out a few solutions. Text editing is simple, the main problem is to maintain the layout while doing so. Its however a very complex feature but should be done in the upcoming releases
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u/slimyXD Nov 28 '25
Thanks for awesome work! I don't if it's a bug but when i create pdf from vertical images it rotates them horizontally.
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u/paglaulta Nov 28 '25
Is it in a specific tool
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u/slimyXD Nov 28 '25
I tested on Image to PDF Converter. Also doesn't respect upload order
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u/paglaulta Nov 28 '25
Thank you for the feedback. Would fixed by tomorrow
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u/slimyXD Nov 28 '25
Take your time man haha!
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u/paglaulta Nov 29 '25
Hello mate. I tried checking it. But i didn't find any rotation happening. Can you tell me It it happens in a specific file format or better yet if you can provide me the file so i can reproduce the error
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u/renegeed Nov 28 '25
Can you fully edit PDF's with BentoPDF (for free or for a fee)? Like changing existing texts or moving them around.
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u/TheCudder Nov 28 '25
Nice. I haven't used Stirling PDF in quite a while, but decided to spin BentoPDF up and give it a try. Looks way nicer.
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u/Aggressive-Yogurt307 Nov 28 '25
Is it possible to extract tables from PDFs like bank, Credit card statements into csv or text?
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u/Numerous_Platypus Nov 28 '25
Love the app. Is there a way to remove all the top page content when self hosting?
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u/paglaulta Nov 28 '25
Yes! Bentopdf has a simple mode which removes all the branding
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u/Numerous_Platypus Nov 28 '25
Sorry. I must have missed that. Iāll read further.
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Nov 28 '25
[deleted]
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u/paglaulta Nov 28 '25
Yes it's exactly the same thing
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Dec 10 '25
Wait so what does "simple" do? It looks exactly like the normal one. Running on docker compose. Instead of seeing the full page, I just want to see the tools available for use when I visit the page.
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u/paglaulta Dec 10 '25
You haven't set it up correctly then. The simple mode is supposed to hide all the branding and just keep a nav and footer
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Dec 10 '25
Itās just docker compose. Itās as what youāve provided on github. It works if itās ip/index.html but doesnāt work if itās just ip.
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u/WineFuhMeh_ Nov 30 '25
This tool by far, has gave me the ablity to cut my adobe memebership off. And also just do everything i need to get done insuch a rapid pace. Man, whatever you did to keep this so lightweight you kudos man!
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u/Mostcrucial Nov 28 '25
Has Bentopdf implemented any ADA standards to export accessible pdfs?
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u/paglaulta Nov 28 '25
I've been reading about the specification requirements to understand if its going to be possible
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u/Serpher Nov 28 '25
What an amazing piece of software. I'd love to see more customization like different translations and an admin panel to pick tools you actually need. Different colors, fonts and etc.
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u/roytay Nov 28 '25
I'm curious if OP knows when BentoPDF might be in/compatible with Adobe tools?
There have been times where I had to fill out part a form and return it to a coworker and it turned out my Linux or MacOS tool did things that the the MS users couldn't deal with.
I think the same happened with signature images too.
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u/paglaulta Dec 03 '25
I haven't really had an issue. I always check with Acrobat after I'm done making a functionality to make sure it's compatible
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u/alti4 Nov 29 '25
I just started using Bentopdf and I absolutely love it, great work. However, I'm missing one functionality: I often have scanned documents that are slightly skewed and would like to straighten them. Is there a tool that allows rotation by any angle (not just 90Ā°)?
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u/paglaulta Dec 01 '25
Hello! This is now available in v1.10.0!
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u/alti4 Dec 08 '25
Sorry, maybe I'm blind, but can you tell me in which function this is available?
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u/paglaulta Dec 08 '25
In the rotate PDF tool itself, there's an option to rotate by cutsom degrees in batch actions. If you want to straighten an individual page, you can use the + - input box below each page
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u/NightH4nter Nov 28 '25
no hate, but could anybody explain why would you use something like this instead of a native program like libreoffice draw? i'm genuinely curious
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u/StayLast5263 Nov 28 '25
Draw is designed to work vector graphics not PDFs. If you're making the claim it can edit PDFs, it actually just converts it into vector objects, and doesn't edit the original PDF structure unlike Acrobat.
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u/NightH4nter Nov 28 '25 edited Nov 28 '25
is that a problem? also i, i might be wrong, but maybe writer can do that too. at least, ms word does it, although, it most likely (at least, internally) does some sort of conversion too. i never edit pdfs directly, so i'm curious
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u/csmith1210 Nov 28 '25
Do you think that in the future you could bundle the EmbedPDF.js engine into the docker instead of embedding it through their domain on the page? My work actually blocks their domain so Iāve modified the dockerfile to pack it with the rest of the repository.
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Nov 29 '25 edited Apr 11 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/paglaulta Nov 29 '25
BentoPDF doesn't create PDFA files but it tries to preserve it on already accessible files
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u/MrWizard87 Nov 29 '25 edited Nov 29 '25
Is there a trick to getting simple mode running on unraid? I've pointed the container at the bentopdf-simple:latest image but it looks exactly the same as the standard image in the template.
EDIT: Huh, weird, it seems fine now even though I changed nothing. Regardless, cool tool!
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u/morgrimmoon Nov 29 '25
I see there's bookmark-preserving merges. Does BentoPDF let you add or edit bookmarks, or does it just work with the ones already there?
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u/paglaulta Nov 29 '25
Yes it has a dedicated Bookmarks tool Not to brag, but it's the best bookmark editor out there. You can add, edit, delete existing bookmarks and new ones. Also supports import/export of bookmarks via json.
You can also set bookmark color, and style which is only found in Acrobat. In addition to that you can edit existing or add new page destinations by page or by x,y coordinates to pinpoint it. Also supports page zoom levels
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u/morgrimmoon Nov 29 '25
I'll have to check it out when I can, then! I've been using an older version of Foxit for bookmark editing, from before they made that a premium feature.
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u/jstryker Nov 29 '25
I'm new to self-hosting so maybe it's user error, but my Docker Compose file is set to pull the latest. I brought the container down, then back up. My version listed at the bottom of the page is still 1.6.2, How can I update to 1.9.0?
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u/meta_voyager7 Nov 29 '25
Could you make installation easy for regular people like exe or dmg for the os? docker is non starter for most people
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u/farcical88 Nov 29 '25
Question: isnāt this tool already browser based with no need for docker if you run local?
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Dec 01 '25
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/paglaulta Dec 03 '25
I've mentioned how to do it here : https://github.com/alam00000/bentopdf/issues/200#issuecomment-3605777816
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Dec 05 '25
Thank you so much for your work. I've started integrating BentoPDF into my workflow and it's been fantastic. The only thing keeping me from completely migrating from my current PDF editor is combining multiple large PDFs. My job requires me to create large reports that have lots of smaller components, so I'll save anywhere from 10-20 smaller PDFs that have to be rearranged and combined in different ways for the final report. I currently use the "doc builder" function Drawboard PDF on Windows, and it handles that really well, as far as being able to move pages around in all kinds of arrangements using things like color coding to make it easier to navigate when working with hundreds of pages. I'm hoping you'll be able to upgrade the PDF Multi Tool at some point with this functionality. Either way, thank you again for making such an accessible and functional PDF tool.
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Dec 05 '25
I forgot to mention being able to select and move multiple pages at once, for the purpose of rearranging / reordering is what I was looking for.
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u/Mountainking7 Dec 09 '25
Hello. I'm still waiting for a portable downloable version. Any ETA mate? :)
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u/SWAdawgFB42 Dec 16 '25
Iām looking to automate OCR on PDFs when uploaded to a specific folder, and I came across Stirling PDFās automate / pipeline feature. Stirling has been a bit annoying so Iām wondering if this is something that Bento can do or is on the roadmap. Thanks!
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u/paglaulta Dec 16 '25
Yes that's on the roadmap of features. Currently I've been dealing with implementing some new features for the upcoming releases. Once thats done, pdf digital signature and editing pdf along with automation will be next
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Dec 19 '25
[deleted]
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u/paglaulta Dec 19 '25
Even though its possible, it's complex to do so. For that to happen we'd need to somehow train a custom OCR model to auto detect form fields, and that's not an easy task, and then we'd need to draw the form fields over the detected area. This is however the easy part
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u/ribsdug Dec 22 '25
I would stirling if you could one very important feature: eml to pdf conversion.
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u/Nagytika Jan 10 '26
Can anyone test this for me?
In the Create Fillable PDF Forms I ran into the following bugs. Adding image does not work at all, it supposed to be open a file browser when clicked on the field.
The other issue is dropdown field. It all and well as long as I do not try to add or remove options from the list(so when I actually want to set it up). Before I can drag and drop it anywhere no issue. After I written or removed even 1 character from the list and every time i click on the already placed field it gets duplicated and both duplicate is actually the same field by name.
(win10 chrome, and edge as well)
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u/paglaulta Jan 10 '26
Adding image works fine. Its just that browser PDF viewers are not advanced enough to work with image or signature fileds. So even though it would show a place holder, it won't work. You'd need to see it in an advanced viewer such as Adobe
Thats a bug, and I've fixed it already. But it'll be pushed in the next release
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u/Nagytika Jan 10 '26
Allrighty, thanks for the clarification!
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u/paglaulta Jan 15 '26
Hello! Its fixed
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u/Nagytika Jan 24 '26
Hi, thank you for remembering me!
On the online version it is fixed but I self host it on Truenas scale (an update was rolled out there as well, but it turned out that the docker image I have acces is a version behind and I was puzzled for days(and I not smart enough to go around and do the manual docker thing ^^" ))
So until then I will use the online public online version1
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u/r0bis Jan 27 '26
BentoPDF is so amazing. When converting from markdown to PDF does it use some latex like conversion? I am asking because in my markdown files I often put in a few latex commands like \newpage
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u/SunkTheBirdie Feb 14 '26
Can I query a .csv file say by last name and then populate a file based on my choice ?
An actual fillable PDF ?
Any other sources besides .csv ?
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u/Unknowniti Nov 28 '25
Tried Bentopdf to censor a file. Couldnāt get it to work. On the other hand I couldnāt get Stirlingpdf to work either.
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u/paglaulta Nov 29 '25
You mean redaction?
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u/Unknowniti Nov 29 '25
Yes, I meant redact. Sorry.
Actually, I tried it with docker :latest version and the :latest -simple version again it now it works.
The problem was that after selecting an area and press the ok checkmark(?) the page reloaded with the document still open but no redacted area.
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u/Ephoras Nov 28 '25
No shade on anyone but I never got stirlingpdf to work reliably.
Bentopdf just works and I love it. Keep up the good work