This gallery is also available as a TechRepublic article.
For many years, PDF files have been one of the most\r\ncommonly-used file formats for storing documents. When it comes to PDF files, Acrobat Reader arguably gets the most attention, but there are numerous other applications\r\nand utilities available for viewing, editing, and converting PDF files. Here are five such utilities.
Free PDF to JPG is a free utility for converting a PDF file into a JPG image.
In addition, this utility can convert PDF files to BMP, PNG, or TIFF formats.
Converted documents can adhere to the default size, or you can choose from three other standard images sizes. Probably the best thing about this utility is that you can perform batch conversions.
DeskPDF Studio X is a utility for creating, editing, and even signing PDF files. It costs $79.95 (USD), but a free 10-day\r\ntrial version is available for download.
DeskPDF Studio X is a very feature-rich application that offers numerous capabilities. The software allows PDFs to be created from just about any type of file, and you can also convert PDFs to Microsoft office documents, HTML, XML, or to various image formats.
The software also contains functionality that allows you to create PDF forms containing interactive objects, such as check boxes.
The Scan and OCR tab.
The Security tab.
The Forms tab.
The Review tab.
The Create and Convert tab.
Wondershare PDF Editor is a utility for creating, editing, and converting PDF files. It costs $59.95 (USD), but a free trial\r\nversion is available for download. Documents that are converted using the trial\r\nversion contain watermarks.
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The Wondershare PDF Editor’s feature set is actually very similar to that of DeskPDF Studio X, but I found Wondershare’s interface to be slightly more intuitive.
Wondershare PDF Editor has a very intuitive interface.
One of Wondershare PDF Editor’s coolest features (that also exists in DeskPDF Studio X) is its OCR capabilities. If you scan paper\r\ndocuments to create PDFs, Wondershare can perform optical character recognition\r\non the document as a way of making it editable and searchable.
Wondershare PDF Editor Comment tab.
Wondershare PDF Editor Protect tab.
I also liked Wondershare’s Stamp feature, which allows you to place a number of different preconfigured stamps on\r\ndocuments. The stamps say things like Approved, Not for Public Release, and Sign\r\nHere.
PrimoPDF is a free utility for converting documents to PDF format.
The utility consists of a single desktop icon, which you can click on to change the output settings.
When you are ready to convert a document, you must drag the document to the PrimoPDF icon.
When you drag the document to the\r\nPrimoPDF icon, the Windows printing interface will open.\r\nPrimoPDF acts as a printer, but it dumps the output to a PDF file rather than to a\r\nprint device.
ParmisPDF is a PDF editor that allows you to create or modify PDF files. It costs $59.95 (USD), but a free trial version is available for\r\ndownload. The trial version places watermarks on documents.
This feature rich application seems to have all of the\r\nbasics covered.
ParmisPDF also includes some rather nice advanced features, such as the ability to process documents in batches.
ParmisPDF includes an\r\nalways useful Mail Merge feature.
ParmisPDF also supports Bates\r\nNumbering.
ParmisPDF Stamp/Annotation feature.
While many PDF editors will\r\nallow you to export documents to alternate formats, this one takes extraction\r\nto the next level by allowing you to export images and text blocks\r\nindependently. There is also a feature for extracting data from a document.
* 1988 - Started teaching myself about computers \ * 1992 - Mainframe programmer for an insurance company \ * 1993 - Network Administrator for a different insurance company \ * 1996 - Author for The Cobb Group \ * 1998 - Network Administrator for Fort Knox \ * 1999 - CIO for chain of hospitals \ * 2000 - Gave up the corporate rat race to work out of my home. I have been a full time technical author ever since. Visit my Web sites at http://www.brienposey.com and http://www.relevanttechnologies.com \
