We have Acrobat pro 7.0 which worked great, until, MSFT forced win 10 upgrade, basically had to upgrade to replace an older win7 box that was getting flakey...

Subsequently Acrobat Pro 7 won't work on Win 10, and, They don't allow upgrades from 7 to 2020.

I can upgrade to the monthly/annual pay as you go program, not interested in that service. Why would anyone pay $200 a year when the program is $400 new, in two years you break even.
Adobe has an upgrade that would be $199 and I could use it until Windows and Adobe agree they need more revenue and revamp code and I'd get the application on my desktop and no monthly fees. Since they are not giving me upgrade access it would be over $400.

So, the question is are there good non adobe software programs that can be trusted which allow you to create, edit and read PDF files/forms.

We use Blue Beam at my office. It can flake out occasionally, as in just randomly shut down, but it works pretty well for the most part.

Also gives the option to restore changes made in the even that it does crash.

Take a look at PDF-XChange
https://www.tracker-software.com/products

On the Mac I use a product named PDF Pen Pro, I don't know if it is available for Windows, but it does not appear to be so on their website.

Many Word Processors will now import, edit, and save PDF as well, I believe the free open source Open Office-based suites are some of them.

One thing of which to be aware, many PDF "documents" are actually scanned images, not text-based. These will have to be OCR'd if you want to edit the text portions. It isn't enough to just be able to read and parse a PDF, the application must have good OCR capabilities as well.

+1 on PDF-XChange

use it daily

Cheers~

It used to be Nuance Power PDF but they were bought out by KOFAX.
It is still the same product.
I have converted a ton of my IT clients successfully from Adobe and at less than half (or more) than Adobe.

https://www.kofax.com/products/power-pdf

If you look around Nuance used to have a lot of coupons but at least now you can get at least 10% off when you sign up for their email blast.
It really is a good product ~have been using them for years.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Take a look at PDF-XChange
https://www.tracker-software.com/products

+1
The batch-convert for excel files is worth it too.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
It used to be Nuance Power PDF but they were bought out by KOFAX.
It is still the same product.
It really is a good product ~have been using them for years.

Daily Nuance user here as well. Concur with the above, and will never go back to Acrobat.

.

Yes there are, and here is the one I use:
www.PDF-Suite.com/products/

There are three versions available priced between $35 and $65 depending on the features you need.

No issues using it to create new PDF files or modify existing files including those created by Adobe's product.

I also like having the ability with PDF Suite to create a PDF document from the clipboard.

.

Another fan of PDF-XChange here

Thats great I'll look into it.

We use PDF forms for a lot of our daily work.

Develop the form, import data, from time to time these need to be edited and updated, Acrobat Pro was how they were created,

Also read/receive PDF files all day long, since moving to Acrobat Reader DC and Win 10 it has been a PIA. Without reason or action Win10 will reset the default PDF program from Acrobat to MS Edge, it's a pain, even when you reset the system default back, it will change it back either immediately or in a few minutes, this will go on for a whole day, then stop, for absolutely no reason I can find. Both Windows and Adobe deny it happens, but its well documented online..

Getting Adobe out will be a godsend...

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
It used to be Nuance Power PDF but they were bought out by KOFAX.
It is still the same product.
I have converted a ton of my IT clients successfully from Adobe and at less than half (or more) than Adobe.

https://www.kofax.com/products/power-pdf

If you look around Nuance used to have a lot of coupons but at least now you can get at least 10% off when you sign up for their email blast.
It really is a good product ~have been using them for years.

This is our goto Adobe alternative, too.

I like pdf expert

quote:

Originally posted by sleepla8er:
.

Yes there are, and here is the one I use:
www.PDF-Suite.com/products/

There are three versions available priced between $35 and $65 depending on the features you need.

No issues using it to create new PDF files or modify existing files including those created by Adobe's product.

I also like having the ability with PDF Suite to create a PDF document from the clipboard.

.

I also use PDF Suite. I'm quite happy with it.

On Windows I use PDF X-change. On Mac, pdf pen pro.

Another vote for the Nuance now Kofax program. I had asked here a few years ago and decided to go with that based on the recommendations I got. Works great for my needs.

I've been satisfied with Nuance/Kofax.

Our office also uses Blue Beam. As far as I know they don’t have any issues with it, however I have no experience with it.