Working on a pdf file with a colored background and a small rectangle in white in the lower right corner. Is it possible to exactly match the background and fill the rectangle?
GIMP is not a pdf editor; if you are in GIMP you are working on a bitmap image, not a PDF file. You might have got there by importing a PDF file, but all the PDF magic is gone.
So, you want to use the eye dropper tool from the toolbox (shortcut: press the letter o on the keyboard) and click on the red. If it doesn’t work, make sure that “sample merged” is set in Tool Options.
Then, use the Rectangle Select tool to draw a rectangle slightly larger than the white one you want to cover.
Then drag the red rectangle from under the toolbox onto the image canvas, and it’ll fill for you.
If you want to print the resulting file, you need to import PDF at 300 dpi (some inkjet printers are sharper at 288 dpi) or maybe 600dpi for a laser printer. This may need your computer to have a lot of memory.
Sometimes it’s better to edit PDF files in Inkscape rather than gimp, as that will preserve the sharpness.
Personally my favorite PDF editor (i.e. when I want to preserve vector objects and whatnot) is Scribus, though not the stable version, but the dev versions Scribus 1.5.x. I never had any failure to properly import a PDF with Scribus 1.5.x (I can’t say the same for the stable Scribus).
This being said, I still very often use GIMP for editing PDF simply, with less head-scratching. Also with raster, it’s easier to make sure I don’t keep sensitive data simply “hidden away but easily retrieved”. Typically a digital-only variant of scanning/manual-editing a PDF (signing a file, editing or hiding data, etc.).
Thank you, Liam. How do I get Inkscape? Is it fairly easy to use for a neophyte?
Thank you, Jehan. How do I know whether to download the 32-bit or 64-bit version? 
You can get Inkscape from their website. Just click «Download», and pick the appropriate version for your system
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I found the information for my computer. Erase, erase.
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