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15 Best Free Adobe Acrobat Alternatives - Rigorous Themes - User account menu
I can't be the only person who imagined the office of the future, free from the confines of the eight and a half by eleven sheet or A4, for my international friends , would have long since arrived. Instead, we've managed to land in an intermediate state of not paperless, but less paper. Between a trusty scanner, email and various other communication tools, and getting really good at organizing my digital archives, I'm not totally unhappy with where we are today.
And I do occasionally admit to reading a paper book, sending a postcard, or gasp printing something off to give to someone else. Until the world moves a little further from paper, print-ready file formats will continue to permeate our digital landscape as well. And, love it or hate it, PDF, the " portable document format ," seems to be the go-to format for creating and sharing print-ready files, as well as archiving files that originated as print.
For years, the only name in the game for working with PDF documents was Adobe Acrobat, whether in the form of their free reader edition or one of their paid editions for PDF creation and editing. But today, there are numerous open source PDF applications which have chipped away at this market dominance. And for Linux users like me, a proprietary application that only runs on Windows or Mac isn't an option anyway.
Since PDF files are used in so many different situations for so many different kinds of purposes, you may need to shop around to find the open source alternative to Adobe Acrobat that meets your exact needs.
Here are some tools I enjoy. For reading PDFs, these days many people get by without having to use an external application at all. Both Firefox and Chromium , the open source version of Google's Chrome browser, come bundled with in-browser PDF readers, so an external plugin is no longer necessary for most users.
All of these have the ability to complete PDF forms, view and make comments, search for text, select text, and so on. For a generic, simple, and fast PDF reader, try xpdf.
Scribus , Inkscape , and GIMP all support native PDF export, too, so no matter what kind of document you need to make -- a complex layout, formatted text, vector or raster image, or some combination -- there's an open source application that meets your needs. For practically every other application, the CUPS printing system does an excellent job of outputting documents as PDF, because printers and PDFs both rely on PostScript to represent data on page whether the page is digital or physical.
If you don't need fancy graphical interfaces, you can also generate PDFs through plain text with a few handy terminal commands. Everyone has their favourite, but probably the most popular is Pandoc , which takes nearly any format of document and translates it to nearly any other format.
Its ability to translate text formats is staggering, so it's probably all you really need. Editing is a loaded term.
For some people, editing a PDF means changing a few words or a swapping out an old image for a new one, while for others it means altering metadata such as bookmarks, and for still others it means manipulating page order or adjusting print resolution. That's not always possible, though, and luckily there are some great tools to make all manner of edits possible.
LibreOffice Draw does a fantastic job of editing PDF files, giving you full access to the text and images. There are caveats to this, because of the flexibility of the PDF format. If you haven't installed the fonts used in the PDF, then the flow of text could change due to font substitution,.
If the PDF was created from a scan, then you'll only have images of text and not editable text. Inkscape , too, does a good job with opening documents created elsewhere, and may be a more intuitive choice if your document is heavy on graphics. If you don't have a font installed, Inkscape through the Poppler renderer can trace characters so that the appearance of text is maintained even without the actual font data.
Of course, that loses the text data you have only the shapes of letters, not the selectable text itself but it's a nice feature when appearance matters most. If your editing tasks are less about the content and more about presentation, you might find the pdftk-java PDF ToolKit command useful. It can extract and inject bookmark metadata, rearrange and concatenate pages, combine many PDFs into one, break a PDF apart, and much more.
If you're not comfortable in a terminal yet, PDFSam has many similar functions, but includes a graphical interface. Finally, you can adjust PostScript properties directly with the GhostScript command, gs. GhostScript is an open source interpreter for the PostScript, so you can perform very low-level tasks with it, such as swapping one font for another, or adjusting the resolution of images, or dropping images entirely. We know these aren't the only choices in town. Do you work with a lot of PDFs?
Have a favorite application to help you along the way? Let us know in the comments below what you use and why it works for you. Are you interested in reading more articles like this? Sign up for our weekly email newsletter.
Privacy Statement. What is an open decision? Resources What is open source? Stay on top of the latest thoughts, strategies and insights from enterprising peers. Image by: Opensource. Aren't we supposed to be living in a paperless world by now? It could be worse.
Editing PDFs Editing is a loaded term. Being terminal-based, these are great tools for automated manipulation, too. Editor's note: This article was originally published in and has been updated. What to read next. Jason Baker. Former Red Hatter. Now a consultant and aspiring entrepreneur. Map nerd, maker, and enthusiastic installer of open source desktop and self-hosted software. More about me. Seth Kenlon. He has worked in the film and computing industry, often at the same time.
He is one of the maintainers of the Slackware-based multimedia production project Slackermedia. Related Content. Tour Collabora Online, an open source alternative to Google Workspace. Edit PDFs on Linux with these open source tools.
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15 Best Free Adobe Acrobat Alternatives - Rigorous Themes.Top 8 Free Adobe Acrobat Alternatives for PDFs – EaseUS
The best Adobe Acrobat alternatives rival the original PDF editing software for features, tools, pricing, and more. Back in , they created a filetype that would retain its formatting and appearance across different computers and operating systems. Today, the format is no longer the preserve of the flagship Adobe Acrobat DC. There are many top premium and free PDF editors offering similar services.
Some pack in more advanced features, more efficient workflows, and better productivity tools. Cost is also another area where the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives offer genuine choice.
You might even need similar tools that better fit your workflow, such as eSign software and OCR software. Like Adobe, Foxit has been offering PDF tools for decades, and users can take confidence from the many high-profile endorsements proudly listed on the Foxit site, with the likes of Amazon, Google, Dell, and Intel among them. This includes watermarking, adding headers and footers, tailoring password permissions, creating templates, and converting other documents to PDFs. In our Foxit PDF Editor review, we felt it might not offer enough value to casual users, but the multi-platform PDF editor app was great for businesses who regularly need to manipulate, edit, redact, annotate, and alter PDF documents.
Indeed, the redaction tools were a special highlight for us. We were impressed with how easily they worked, thoroughly scrubbing sensitive data from documents. The feature is a boon for compliant-conscious teams who understand the importance of adhering to global data laws.
Despite the no-cost approach, the tool - a PC-only desktop app that works offline and is ideal for low-spec PCs - is surprisingly feature-rich. Tools for PDF creation, compressing, merging, and converting are all present and results are grand. Extras like OCR and eSign are well-implemented.
The interface is clean and fresh and emphasizes productivity - you can quickly find what you need and what to do. We even felt it bested Adobe in one area. PDF24 Creator is available free and unlimited. Read our full PDF24 Creator review. Nitro PDF Pro opens in new tab is probably the best Acrobat alternative for those who absolutely, positively want to avoid subscriptions at all costs.
Just a one-off perpetual license. When we tried out the product, we found it featured an impressive toolkit that compares favorably with Adobe Acrobat. The interface and experience make using the software incredibly simple and easy - a factor the sometimes overwhelming Acrobat struggles to boast. Other tools to let you make changes to existing PDF documents, and even create one from scratch.
You have a lot of tools at your disposal, including various ways to make annotations, leaving instructions for colleagues to follow. Everything else is very well implemented, and we especially liked how the ability to convert files to and from PDFs is performed. It also comes with a good OCR, conversion tools. Volume licensing for businesses is also available. Unlike many of the best Acrobat alternatives, EaseUS has a free, but limited version available alongside the Pro version.
This works great in a pinch, but it restricted in many ways - not least adding a watermark to your documents. The Pro version opens up the software, however. It also comes with more standard features, such as a converter, and has good OCR capabilities.
The program is impressively kitted out for PDF editing, splitting pages into boxes that can be moved and resized. Content can also be changed, such as altering the font, color, and the text itself. This makes navigating the tool an absolute breeze - not dissimilar to the excellent user experience offered in Adobe Acrobat, with its focus on maximizing productivity.
Bundles are available. PDF Expert is much more fully featured, making it a much better alternative to Acrobat. A wide range of editing tools include the ability to highlight parts of the PDF and add notes, redact sensitive information, extract or rearrange pages, and merge documents.
Being able to draw directly onto the PDF is also useful for those who are using the software on iPad and have an Apple Pencil. The sleek interface and a well-organized toolbar make it simple and intuitive for new users to accomplish everyday PDF editing tasks. Pricing is via an annual subscription or a perpetual license - however, only the yearly fee offers use across iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
The free plan includes basic PDF creation for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint docs, and the ability to merge, move, and delete pages and files. These open up necessary editing, converting, collaboration tools, and more. However, there are limitations, even beyond the free version. Read our full pdfforge PDF Architect review. For those with a need to edit PDFs online and on a budget, Sejda opens in new tab offers a tool that might just be the best free Acrobat alternative online.
But watch out for restrictions in the free version. You can only perform three tasks per day, you can only work on one document at a time, and file sizes cannot exceed pages or 50MB. All files uploaded to the server are automatically deleted after two hours.
Ideal, then, for businesses with a focus on data protection and compliance. We found in-document text editing to be fairly basic, meaning you might encounter some issues replicating a typeface if the original PDF features a unique or unusual font.
But as a useful Adobe Acrobat alternative for infrequent PDF editing, Sejda offers an excellent no-cost or low-cost option. Pricing comes in the form of a weekly and monthly subscriptions for the web app, or an annual desktop and web app subscription. Team and volume licensing is available. Read our full Sejda review. PDF Portable Document Format files are compatible with a wide range of devices and operating systems.
They lock in the document's layout and functionality to ensure it appears and behaves consistently. Editing PDFs requires the use of specific software. Adobe Acrobat is one of the best know PDF editors, but it comes with a monthly subscription fee which some users may not be able to justify.
In such cases, people often consider using one of the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives instead. Read our full Adobe Acrobat review. When deciding which Adobe Acrobat alternative is best for you, you first need to consider how you will be working with PDF files. Modern operating systems and browsers can open PDFs without additional software, meaning this is all you need if you only want to view the files.
If you need to make more in-depth edits, batch process files, or convert between file types, then a fully-fledged PDF editor is the best choice for you. To test the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives, we downloaded and installed each piece of software to give you a first-hand opinion. Our research looked at operating system compatibility, system requirements, and real-world performance when working with large files.
We explored each program's features, noting any significant additions and omissions compared to Adobe Acrobat. We also investigated the price, payment models, and free versions where available for each Adobe Acrobat alternative.
Finally, we looked at the support services and documentation offered by each developer as we feel it's a key part of the overall user experience.
Looking for cost-effective alternatives? We've rounded up the best free office software. Alexis is a freelance writer and journalist from the north east of England. His love for creative technology stems from the day he was gifted his first ever digital voice recorder a beloved Olympus WS , which brought with it the wonderful realisation that he'd never again have to rely on his iffy shorthand…. Tech Radar. North America. Jump to: Today's best Adobe Acrobat deals. View Deal opens in new tab.
Foxit PDF Editor. Reasons to avoid - License restricted to single device. PDF24 Creator. Specifications Operating system: Windows.
Pricing: Free. Reasons to avoid - Windows only. Nitro PDF Pro. Pricing: Perpetual license. Reasons to avoid - PC only.
Readdle PDF Expert. Specifications Operating system: Mac, iPad, iPhone. Reasons to avoid - Apple-only. PDF Architect. Reasons to avoid - No editing on free version. Reasons to avoid - Editing function is limited. Alexis James. More about software. The Microsoft Excel world championships is as brilliantly entertaining The best inch laptop top large-screen notebooks for any budge
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