Best Free PDF Tools

 
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Introduction

A PDF tool comes in handy when you need to: 

  • Merge, split or reorder pages of a PDF document;
  • Rotate or crop pages
  • Add a header and footer
  • Add page numbers
  • Add a watermark
  • Encrypt or decrypt
  • Highlight text or annotate
  • Tweak viewer preference or change metadata
  • Convert PDF to images, or vice versa
  • Convert PDF to text, or vice versa
  • Convert PostScript to PDF
  • Do other functions

In this review, programs designed to combine merging, splitting and other capabilities in a single application are discussed under General Tools. Those designed for a more specific task are grouped under Specific Tools.

PDFill PDF ToolsPDFill PDF Tools is my favorite for its clean and nice user interface with most of the functions covered, such as merge, split, reorder or rotate pages, add headers and footers complete with page numbers, etc.
 
Watermark can be added by typing in any text such as ‘DRAFT’ for documents to be reviewed, or can be added by a background image in PDF format.
 
Some additional features are supported such as encrypt and decrypt with security options; reformat multiple pages into one page; delete, flatten or list of PDF form fields; convert PDF to images or vice versa; and convert PostScript file to PDF.
 
The installer bundles with PDFill PDF Editor which is not free, but PDFill PDF Tools can run on its own after installation. The free software does not support other functions such as converting PDF to text, making annotations, etc. Instead, they are available to Specific Tools listed in the next section.
 
 
PDFTK BuilderPDFTK Builder may be used as an alternative. It can merge or reorder selected pages of PDF files at one go. This is a better idea to have merging and reordering of pages done at the same time.
 
It also supports split, rotate, background/stamp and encrypt features. Besides these, it has no other additional features.
 
It also lacks a basic function, as available to PDFill PDF Tools, for adding a background text as a watermark to PDF documents. This function is much needed when we need to mark a PDF document as 'Confidential', 'Draft' or in any other text in the background of the pages.
 
 
jPDF TweakIf you just need more features, jPDF Tweak will be a good choice but its user interface will not be better than any of the above two applications. Its merge, split and reorder functions are available under ‘input’ tab with a new filename to be entered under ‘output’ tab.
 
jPDF Tweak offers rotate, crop, watermark and format multiple pages, change page numbers and chapter bookmarks, and encrypt functions.
 
It allows adding attachments to PDF documents, setting viewer preference and document properties including title, author, subject and keywords.
The following free applications are helpful for their specific functions mostly not covered by the General Tools.
 
  • To edit a PDF file, try Sun PDF Import Extension to OpenOffice.org. It allows PDF documents imported in Draw to preserve layout and edit small portion of text. This extension works further to allow you to export an OpenOffice file into a hybrid pdf/odf file, which is a pdf file containing an embedded odf source file. The hybrid pdf file can be viewed with a normal pdf viewer and can be opened with OpenOffice for full editing. See A PDF File Allows Editing in 100% Layout Accuracy for details.
  •  
  • FreeOCR.netTo convert PDF to text, my choice is Some PDF to TXT Converter which preserves text and layout, supports drag and drop, batch conversion and encrypted pdf files. Alternatively, try the latest version of Adobe Reader which allows the user to save a copy of PDF as text.
     
    FreeOCR.net, which is a scan and OCR (Optical Character Recognition) program, is a good choice to extract text from scanned PDF documents. Moreover, images from scanned PDF documents can be selected and placed on the clipboard. Try also Free-OCR.com for an online OCR solution.
  •  
  • Some PDF to Word ConverterTo convert PDF to Word/Excel, Some PDF to Word Converter allows removing line breaks and preserves paragraphs with soft returns. It supports batch conversion and encrypted pdf files, keeps images but does not preserve hyperlinks for the version under review.
     
    Free online conversion is available from Nitro PDF for PDF-to-Word Converter and PDF-to-Excel Converter. Choose the file you need, click the "Convert" button and check your inbox for the converted files.
     
  • 7-PDF MakerTo convert various formats to PDF, 7-PDF Maker is a powerful tool to convert a wide range of formats to PDF. It is not ony able to convert files generated by Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OpenOffice, StarOffice, Maths and AutoCad, but also convert images, text or web based files to PDF. The setup comes with a Command line version or a Windows Explorer integration and the program supports user interface both in English and German even though the website is currently only available in German.
     
    If you are using office applications such as OpenOffice and Jarte, they come with a feature to export files to PDF. Microsoft Office 2007 also allows a free add-in for saving documents as PDF.
     
    Using either 7-PDF Maker or the above office applications, hyperlinks or bookmarks are nicely preserved in the converted or exported PDF files.
     
    Alternatively you may install a virtual PDF printer, such as Bullzip, to create a PDF file by printing text or other contents via the PDF printer. However by doing so, hyperlinks and bookmarks are usually not preserved in the resulting PDF file.
     
    i2pdfIf you are only converting various image files to PDF, my favorite goes to i2pdf. It works even better than the tool "Convert Images to PDF" included in PDFill PDF Tools. Download and unzip i2pdf, run the executable directly and no installation is required. This program is portable and user friendly -- just drag and drop the images on the program window, click "Build PDF" button and it's done. In setting the page output, "paperless" format is helpful for converting portrait and landscape images to the PDF file and view it on the screen without blank paper margins.
     
    How about converting files to PDF online? 7-PDF Web Portal and many other websites such as kool Converter or Document Converter eXPress offers an online conversion to PDF as well.
  •  
  • To extract images from PDF, Some PDF Images Extract is a good choice. You can extract all images from several PDF files by batch or pull images from selected pages in a PDF file. Images can be saved in jpg, bmp, png, tiff, gif or tga formats.
  •  
  • PDF-XChange ViewerTo annotate PDF documents, most of the tools do not support it, but PDF-XChange Viewer does it. PDF-XChange Viewer also allows highlighting, crossing or underlining text; drawing shapes; stamping and filling up PDF forms with a built-in typewriter. It is surprisingly more than a viewer!
  •  
  • To make fillable PDF forms, PDFescape is available free via online editing. Other features such as adding text, whiteout or basic symbols are included.
  •  
  • To set viewer preference and metadata, BeCyPDFMetaEdit is a good find. It allows editing most metadata, customizing viewer preferences, slide show, page labels, etc. Tweak PDF is another choice with a simple user interface but without slideshow setting and some other features.
  •  
  • To recover forgotten password, try PDFCrak which runs on Linux or DOS (the version for DOS is available for download here). The only supported usage of this software is to recover passwords and/or content that you own but have lost access to as stated in the FAQ.
  •  
  • To do other functions such as to add attachments to PDF, try PDF Bundle; to compress or decompress a PDF file, try Free PDF Compressor; and to convert PDF versions, try PDF Version Converter.
Others
The following free applications offer some functions basically available to PDFill PDF Tools. They were brought up in comments here or noted from other sources. I am listing them here with brief descriptions and links to their sites for ease of reference.
 
Have Your Say
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Related Products and Links

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Quick Selection Guide

PDFill PDF Tools    Rating 9 of 10  Gizmo's Top Pick

Pros   Clean and nice user interface, include most features such as merge, split, reorder, rotate, header and footer with page number, watermark, encrypt and decrypt, convert PDF to images or vice versa, convert PostScript to PDF.
Cons   Installer bundles with PDFill PDF Editor which is not free, short of features provided by Specific Tools.
Developer Home Page   http://www.pdfill.com/pdf_tools_free.html
Download link   http://www.pdfill.com/download.html
File Size   7 MB   Version 6.0   License Type Unrestricted freeware   Installation Requirements Win 98-Vista   64 bit compatible 64 bit compatible

PDFTK Builder    Rating 7 of 10

Pros   Merge and reorder of pages at one go, supports split, rotate, background stamp, encrypt, etc.
Cons   Text watermark not support, less features than PDFill PDF Tools.
Developer Home Page   http://angusj.com/pdftkb/
Download link   http://angusj.com/pdftkb/#pdftkbuilder
File Size   2 MB   Version 3.5.3   License Type Unrestricted freeware   Installation Requirements Windows 98-Vista

jPDF Tweak    Rating 6 of 10

Pros   Support merge, split, reorder, rotate, crop, watermark, format multiple pages, change page numbers, encrypt, add attachments, set viewer preference and metadata.
Cons   User interface less intuitive.
Developer Home Page   http://jpdftweak.sourceforge.net/
Download link   http://jpdftweak.sourceforge.net/
File Size   724 KB   Version 0.9   License Type Unrestricted freeware   Installation Requirements Win 98-XP

Some PDF to Word Converter    Rating 6 of 10

Pros   Convert PDF to word, remove line breaks, preserve paragraphs, retain images, support batch conversion and encrypted pdf files.
Cons   Short of other features available to General Tools.
Developer Home Page   http://www.somepdf.com/some-pdf-to-word-converter.html
Download link   http://www.somepdf.com/some-pdf-to-word-converter.html
File Size   784 KB   Version 1.5   License Type Unrestricted freeware   Installation Requirements Win 2000-Vista

FreeOCR.net    Rating 6 of 10

Pros   Extract text from scanned PDF documents, images from scanned PDF documents can be selected and placed on the clipboard
Cons   Short of other features available to General Tools.
Developer Home Page   http://freeocr.co.uk/
Download link   http://www.brothersoft.com/freeocr-download-59672.html
File Size   4.38 MB   Version 2.6   License Type Unrestricted freeware   Installation Requirements Win 2000-Vista

7-PDF Maker    Rating 8 of 10

Pros   Converts a wide range of formats to PDF, comes with a Command line version or a Windows Explorer integration.
Cons   Provides a tool for conversion to PDF only.
Developer Home Page   http://www.7-pdf.de/
Download link   http://www.7-pdf.de/
File Size   58.98 MB   Version 1.0.2   License Type Unrestricted Freeware   Installation Requirements Windows
Info   This program supports user interface in English even though the website is currently only available in German.

i2pdf    Rating 8 of 10

Pros   User friendly, drag and drop, paperless format to suit viewing on the screen, other various options available.
Cons   Designed only for converting images to PDF, no other PDF tools available.
Developer Home Page   http://luis.no-ip.net/i2pdf/
Download link   http://luis.no-ip.net/i2pdf/
File Size   989 KB   Version 1.0.15   License Type Unrestricted Freeware   Installation Requirements Windows XP, Vista, 7
64 Bit version available   64 Bit version available   This program is portable This program is portable

PDF-XChange Viewer    Rating 8 of 10

Pros   Annotate PDF documents, highlight, cross and underline text, draw shapes, stamping, fill up PDF forms.
Cons   Short of other features available to General Tools.
Developer Home Page   http://www.docu-track.com/home/prod_user/PDF-XChange_Tools/pdfx_viewer
Download link   http://www.docu-track.com/downloads/users/
File Size   15.11 MB   Version 2.0   License Type Unrestricted freeware   Installation Requirements Win 2000-Vista   Portable version available Portable version available
Editor

This article is maintained by volunteer editor Jojoyee. Registered site users are allowed to edit and improve this article wiki-style.

Tags

pdf tools, free pdf tools, freeware, edit pdf, pdf editor, convert pdf, encrypt pdf, pdf format, merge pdf, split pdf, pdf slideshow

4.416665
Average: 4.4 (12 votes)
Your rating: None

Here's a nice reference for all kinds of PDF manipulation.

Also, here two useful references I found to help with decrypting PDFs:
http://lifehacker.com/396534/freeware-pdf-unlocker-enables-copypaste-fun...
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/01/07/recover-pdf-password-with-pdfcr...

Thanks for mentioning PDFCrack. I've tried it on my PDF file encrypted with a password. It takes about 2 minutes or so to recover the password in length of 5 aphabets.

Added in the article as a useful tool meant for users who lost their passwords to open PDF files.

Adobe Reader 9 for function pdf to txt.When make click on Save like.

I tried Graphics2pdf took two jpgs, total of 416K and created a PDF of 11mb. i2pdf took the same two images and made a pdf of 600K. Easy choice.

Question:How to put video in pdf for free?Comercial is with Adobe Acrobat Pro 9.But i want with free soft.

Embedding video in a pdf document will usually require a pdf editor. Sadly I don't see any pdf editor with more complete features is freeware so far.

Great to know if there's one.

Good soft for pdf that i have on computer:
A-Pdf Number,A-Pdf text extractor,Atomic pdf password recovery,pdf text extractor Master,Tomahawk v.3,Cib pdf brewer,EBook to images,Free Pdf converter,Free pdf to word document converter,Office convert pdf to doc,pdf bundle,pdf creator,pdf bullzip,Pdf owner guard personal,rtf2txt20,text to pdf converter,Some pdf image extractor,Some pdf to html convertor,Some pdf to txt convertor,Some pdf to word convertor,Some text to pdf convertor,Primo pdf,Free pdf editor,Free pdf to word convertor,Pdfsam,Graphics2PDF,pdfmark,PDFTK Builder.Everything will find using Google browser.

pdf2swf open sorce-i try and work very good but for make visible and functional you need :Total video player.Gom player don't work.This Swf format have advantage that save ~1/2 space in comparation with pdf.I try this with an translated manual of Adobe Acrobat.I don't know if work with more complex pdf(link,comments,video in pdf).

Forget Tomahawk version 3(free).You can insert hyperlink and after that you can put an rtf,etc document and save as pdf.Document and link will be visible ,functional and convertid good in pdf format.I think that work for word to pdf?and sure for txt to pdf.

This article really needs a refresh and greater focus on PDF conversion to other formats. The only one listed - Some PDF to Word Converter - is not good and there have started to be some alternatives in this area (finally!).

Thanks for valuable comments. I admit that this article focuses on PDF tools which cover many angles while PDF conversion is just a part of it.

Probably a stub for Best Free PDF Converter could be helpful. :>)

Bullzip http://www.bullzip.com and PrimoPDF http://www.primopdf.com/ both do a fine job converting any word processing format that prints to PDF.

As having mentioned in this article, a virtual PDF printer, such as Bullzip, can be used to create a PDF file by printing text or other contents via the PDF printer. By doing so, hyperlinks and bookmarks are usually not preserved in the resulting PDF file.

I'm amazed that you haven't brought up the fact that you HAVE to also install the trial-ware PDFill PDF Editor in order to use PDFill PDF Tools. What's more you cant uninstall any PDFill modules individually.

This is pretty cheeky behaviour, given that there appears to be no mention of this at their site. A lot of people would just presume that you would be presented with the option to install what you want during the installation process, instead they would end up with extra software they didn't want.

Thanks for highlighting this. It's sad news that now the installer is bundled with the non-free Editor. The good news is the Tools still can run separately via:

Start Menu -> Programs -> PDFill -> PDFill PDF Tools (Free).

What about PDFill FREE PDF Writer!? http://www.pdfill.com/freewriter_pdf.html

oops, sorry wrong thread!

PDFill PDF Tools is not really 'Unrestricted freeware' because it places a watermark on the saved file

Thanks for the feedback. PDFill PDF Tools contains 12 functions, I've tried each of them but none of them creates any undesired watermark on the saved file. Further it's clearly highlighted on its homepage like this: "No Watermarks! No Pop-up Advertisements! FREE for Personal or Commercial! FREE Distribution!".

I would appreciate it if you can be more specific on which function or which feature which results in an undesired watermark so that I can personally verify it and counter check with the producer.

To make little brocures from scaned images(permit 12 images)i use very simply,Graphics2PDF where only drag and drop images and save as pdf,next i read with Pdf x change viewer because i see orizontal like a book.
To split and merge i use:pdfsam open source program,work only with netframework(dotnet 3,5)must to be in preliminary instaled and work excelent.
For conversion office documents the most simply is Oppen Office.
For OCR i use software from my HP Deskjet F2280 All in one and you can make pdf from scanner.

To convert PDF to Excel there's this new free online service:
http://www.pdftoexcelonline.com/default.aspx
Reviewed here: http://www.freewaregenius.com/2009/05/07/pdf-to-excel-free-free-pdf-to-e...

Thanks Bob. Got your comments days ago but was wondering where to update in the article. Now I've added a new paragraph for online conversion to word/excel followed by a link to Gizmo's How-To Article.

How about this one? http://lifehacker.com/5262494/zilla-pdf-to-txt-converter-plain+texts-you... The free version of this program (Zilla PDF to Text Converter) offers batch conversion from pdf to text.

I have been using PDF Split and Merge 2.0 for a while (per review on freewaregenius.com). It has the distinction of being the only VISUAL, well, split and merge utility other than the Adobe products. Although in alpha it has performed without flaw. Requires java. Besides visual page reorder, also has basic (file level) split and merge function.

Thanks for the feedback. I note that it’s still a test version and load/save environment functions don’t work yet. Good to see when it has come out from the test version.

PDF-XChange Viewer is not actually freeware. Places a huge watermark (which is not easily removed) on your PDFs after a certain number of uses.

As specified by the producer, it is freeware. Perhaps you might want to give us more details such as after how many times of uses, which functions you use, viewing only? or doing a certain editing functions? so that we can verify the product and report back to the producer.

I just installed PDFXchange Viewer. As noted by "Anonymous", it puts large watermark on corners of pages that have been modified by "pro" features (including inserting pages, which I take to be a pretty basic function).

Shareware functions do leave a Watermark. Go to Preferences>Registration> place a checkmark in 'Hide PRO functions'.

PDFill PDF Tools is bloatware ! Installs Trials and needs Ghostscript (not Ghostscript Lite like Bullzip), better is the low-cost PDF-X Viewer Pro, also with portable version available.

Just as you've mentioned, the Pro version is 'low cost', so it's not freeware. We're comparing Best Free :>)

There's no comparison with Adobe Acrobat is there ? PDF-X Pro is the BEST CHOICE in this category.

FreeOCR.net is discontinued (no free replacement also). URL no longer works.

Ah, it's now available here: http://www.freeocr.co.uk/ .

Man PDF-XChange Viewer is fantastic!!!

I need to sign pdf documents very often for my work!!!
I first print/sign/scan/make pdf with open office!

now with PDF-XChange i made a stamp with my signature and it takes only some seconds to do the job!!! Fantastic!!

Also i got the portable version so no rubish in my system!!!
Thanks very much!! I love your site!!!

I never knew one could create a stamp using PDF X Change for Signatures! Now I know and I am so happy!!! Thanks Buddy!

There is an excellent freeware Microsoft Reader "LIT" to PDF converter called "ABC Amber LIT Converter".

http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

This is a cool little program for tweaking PDF files. It's small and does not install, just run it.

Tweak PDF 1.33 316 KB (Freeware)
http://www.coolpdf.com/tweakpdf.html

Is there any freeware combination of pdf viewer and printer(prints pdf)

b'coz there are lost of freeware software for pdf
but all are either pdf viwer or pdf pinter(prints pdf from any app.)

but I could not find any combination of pdf viewer and printer

Ravi

ravi883k@gmail.com

Yet to be seen if there's one. But they serve different purposes though.

Foxit Reader 3.0 has a pdf printer add-in utility that you can download and use like any other pdf printer. I've used it infrequently myself, but it does seem to do the job adequately.

Just like other PDF writers, Foxit PDF Creator serves as an add-on to install a virtual printer onto the system.

It adds an evaluation watermark to every page in the created PDF file unless a license key is purchased. There are many others without this limitation, check out Best Free PDF Writer in Related Products and Links.

On,

PDF-XChange Viewer

, unfortunately this

does leave marks when annotating documents

(highlighting text, etc). So, the only advantage over

foxit

seems a slightly more clear view.

PDF-XChange Viewer does NOT leave marks when annotating documents. I'm using latest version, but to be true I don't remember PDF-XChange Viewer leaving marks when annotating documents, EVER. Shareware functions, that's a whole other story...

I just want a small low resourse simple viewer that can handle a 2-300mb file without crashing. How about you? Asus eeepc 4gb 512 XP is what I am running and why I need it. Please make a "tiny and fast" section for us flashy semi-portable people.

I think a small and light PDF viewer is available at Best Free Non-Adobe PDF Reader. Have a good try.

These all seem like valuable tools for their particular functions. However, I am still searching for an application, free or otherwise, that converts a PDF file to a PowerPoint file. Any suggestions. Thanks.

I found the easiest PDF creator and cost nothing. http://stickypdf.com/

I wrote it about here http://hubpages.com/hub/Creating-PDF-files-the-easy-way

Stickypdf required NET framewrok

Ravi

ravi883k@gmail.com

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