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vkhosid

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Good afternoon my dudes!

I have a question for you all that I've been looking at for a while. At work, the company provides up Adobe Acrobat for PDF editing/creating/etc...however, I was tasked with finding alternatives because the boss-man is tired of paying $15 per month per computer.

I've done a bit of googling, and came up with a few options:
Bluebeam
Nitro PDF
PDF XChange Editor

Anyone have any experiences with any of these? What are you opinions and thoughts? Also, if there is other software that I should look at that's not in the list above, please mention that as well...

Thanks!
 
Is there a reason the Microsoft print to PDF function that is built in to Windows 10 is insufficient?
 
asicer said:
Is there a reason the Microsoft print to PDF function that is built in to Windows 10 is insufficient?
Click to expand...

Yes. Sometimes we need to actually edit the PDFs and they're not created from word documents. Plus, the California Energy Commission seems to really enjoy doing things in PDF format.
 
We switched to Bluebeam a few years ago, and it is OK. Does similar work to Acrobat Pro. But then we switched back to Acrobat Pro because the licensing ended up costing less.
 
I do enjoy Bluebeam. However, its search feature is abysmal.
 
vkhosid said:
True, but the search feature is a must-have for us.
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Well that's the thing. Each has strengths and weaknesses. To me, the tool is more important than any cost delta. It's kind of a false economy to select something that may be cheaper but doesn't do what you need it to do. We use PDF's for shared document review and commenting, and Acrobat does that pretty well. But ... the newest version is clunky in that the tools are now grouped and I haven't found a way to ungroup them in the toolbar.

So, pick your poison, really.
 
Is there a reason you need to deploy Adobe Acrobat for PDF to every computer? Maybe pick a subset population that uses it routinely and reduce licenses? Or simply install on a few "communal" work stations that people can go to to edit/mark-up PDFs.
 
Ken Ibold said:
Well that's the thing. Each has strengths and weaknesses. To me, the tool is more important than any cost delta. It's kind of a false economy to select something that may be cheaper but doesn't do what you need it to do. We use PDF's for shared document review and commenting, and Acrobat does that pretty well. But ... the newest version is clunky in that the tools are now grouped and I haven't found a way to ungroup them in the toolbar.

So, pick your poison, really.
Click to expand...

This.

rtk11 said:
Is there a reason you need to deploy Adobe Acrobat for PDF to every computer? Maybe pick a subset population that uses it routinely and reduce licenses? Or simply install on a few "communal" work stations that people can go to to edit/mark-up PDFs.
Click to expand...

And kinda this, but you will have a hard time doing that now that Adobe ties licensing to e-mail addresses unless you play games with e-mail addresses and also set those machines up with a common desktop profile for all users... especially in a secured/audited environment where each user is supposed to have their own login to the local desktops.

Hate to say it, because I hated Adobe as a customer of mine long ago (worst egos on the planet, and we had telecoms and major consulting firms on our customer list) and I think their stuff is overpriced garbage of the highest order, but they created the PDF standard and using other stuff usually leads to problems.

As long as you’re charging the customer enough, and passing through any costs associated with the software rental they’re effectively forcing on you, just pay it ... and toss it on the COGS bonfire of stupidity.
 
vkhosid said:
Plus, the California Energy Commission seems to really enjoy doing things in PDF format.
Click to expand...

You may want to challenge the thinking there - if you need input from users, then you may want to use a free web tool (e.g., google forms). If it's only to share information, then just about everything can 'save as pdf' these days for free.
 
The IT guy loaded Acrobat Reader Pro DC which is some watered down version of Acrobat Pro on my home work laptop. It makes PDF's just fine but lacks some basic editing tools, like importing pages, which is kind of important.
 
I used PDF Escape to edit pdf forms. It's a free online pdf editor. I have no connection to the company. A little clunky, but got the job done!

www.pdfescape.com
 
Does LibreOffice or OpenOffice allow importing of PDFs (and then modification)?
I think everyone uses CutePDF to export.
I am looking for an app that will allow combining of PDFs ie two separate PDFs and need to make them as one file.
 
Sac Arrow said:
The IT guy loaded Acrobat Reader Pro DC which is some watered down version of Acrobat Pro on my home work laptop. It makes PDF's just fine but lacks some basic editing tools, like importing pages, which is kind of important.
Click to expand...
It's there. It's just the new version has a different grouping of tools. You can import pages several ways. Tools tab, Combine Files, or else Tools tab, Organize Pages, then there is an insert pages tab.
 
Ken Ibold said:
It's there. It's just the new version has a different grouping of tools. You can import pages several ways. Tools tab, Combine Files, or else Tools tab, Organize Pages, then there is an insert pages tab.
Click to expand...

I'll check that out, but it was sure nice when you could just drag them and drop them.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Does LibreOffice [...] allow importing of PDFs (and then modification)?
Click to expand...
Yes. Kinda clunky - brings it into their "draw" application and treats each line of text as a text box - but you can change text / add delete drawings, etc. It doesn't re-wrap text if you insert (or move) an image.
 
nj-pilot said:
You may want to challenge the thinking there - if you need input from users, then you may want to use a free web tool (e.g., google forms). If it's only to share information, then just about everything can 'save as pdf' these days for free.
Click to expand...

It's not my call on this, and no room for any input, really...

They produce forms that need to be filled out for various projects that I work on. Sometimes multiple forms need to be combined, and sometimes multiple forms need to be collated. In other instances, various pages need to be deleted. I know it sounds a bit all over the place, but that's the reality of the situation.

As an aside, all of our references (to various building/mechanical/etc codes) are in PDF format...and the search function (as it is on bluebeam) takes forever to produce results. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Adobe Acrobat does a great job with this. I've been trying out different PDF programs in the last few days...

Adobe Acrobat
PDF XChange Editor
Bluebeam
CutePDF

And I think a few more than I'm forgetting...as others have said already, each has their strength/weakness....I guess I'm just looking for options from you guys (and with those options, preferably an explanation of why or why not).
 
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