The Best Free Software of 2019. Your phone is full of apps, but don't neglect the desktop. So when you go to make a 'print,' you select it and out shoots a PDF to your PC. PDFs with this free. Best PDF software and Best PDF Software Editors – In this list we will review the best PDF software and best PDF editors in the market based on easy to use, PDFs create and edit, supported file types, lighter memory requirements and Faster operation for PDF conversion, print and more features set and one of the most important is easy on your budget.
A PDF ( Portable Document Format) is a file format that is used to present documents which have texts and images. It is free styled format that can be used on multiple application software, hardware, and operating systems. There is no office, no school submission that hasn’t used a PDF file format for its presentation.
Best PDF Editor For Windows
Below mentioned are the 10 Best free PDF Editing Software for Windows 2019.
1. Nitro Pro PDF:
There are many different softwares that help one in the task of editing PDF files or saving/transferring their work onto the PDF file format. On this list of the 10 Best free PDF Editing Software for Windows the next software to feature is Nitro Pro PDF. Apart from the default features that enable one to edit to their heart’s content, Nitro Pro offers its users safety and security of their documents. Documents created with this software are safe with digital audit trails, SSL AES encryption, and industry-standard cloud service facilities that meet PCI DSS, HIPAA, SSAE 16, and SOC requirements. While the majority number of companies cater to the tried and tested features for document editing, such features earn our kudos for out of the box thinking!
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8, and 7 (64 bit)
2. PDFelement:
The first name on our list for the 10 Best free PDF Editing Software for Windows is PDFelement. This software offers the users easy to use interface where in any text, image format can easily be edited. It offers features like simple editing, annotate, conversion of PDF to and from one format to another, signature application and PDF form filling among others. This helps the users access their MS Word files in a PDF format for editing. The latest version boasts of multi-tiled screen display and text extraction from non scanned PDF documents.
Compatibility: Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista
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3. PDF Xchange Editor:
Next PDF editor free download in our list is PDF-XChange Editor. it is one of those few softwares that help a user in creating PDF files from scanned documents, images, text files, Markdown files etc. It can also be used to convert MS Office documents in to a PDF file. (this feature is a rarity and not offered by many other PDF applications) This software includes additional features like Ribbon UI, AutoSave/AutoRecover options, MRC (Mixed Raster Content) and expanded Snapshot and Select Text Tools, which include development of date macros. With the option of adding watermarks, one can customise a document and avoid counterfeiting.
Compatibility: Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista
4. Sejda PDF Editor:
Sejda PDF Editor helps the users to extract and separate text and split it by size, text or bookmark. It helps the users to convert its text documents in to MS Word, Excel and image formats of one’s choice. It also compresses the files due to which they can save on the space on the drives. For added focus on security, it allows for password protection and thus preventing unauthorised access to the PDF files created.
Compatibility: Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista
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5. Inkscape:
For the art students, the architects, the creative souls, Inkscape comes as a boon in the disguise as a PDF Editor. This software may pop halfway through our list of 10 Best free PDF Editing Software for Windows but, it is the only software that offers unlimited options for image and illustrative edits apart from from the usual text edits. This software, has flexible drawing tools, Bezier and spiro curves tools that support manipulating images. It is also perfectly compliant to SVG format file generation and editing. A must try software, for all your PDF edit needs which makes it one for the best free PDF editor for windows.
Compatibility: Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista
6. Adobe® Acrobat® Reader DC:
How can a list on PDF file format be remotely complete without mentioning Adobe Acrobat? Considered by many as one of the most easy to use software for PDF editing, Adobe Acrobat remains a people’s favorite. A free to use software, it offers the users basic edit functionality and also offers the option of converting PDF files into MS Word, Excel or extract text that can be used in any other file format. It has the basic image altering tools which help in image manipulation.
Compatibility: Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista
7. Foxit Phantom PDF:
Foxit Softwares has always tried to give stiff competition to Adobe Acrobat. This race of one upmanship has resulted in the user as the winner. The multiple features that have been offered, has made using these softwares very easy. One of the most uniques selling points about Foxit Phantom is that it offers users extraction and conversion of text into HTML files. With the option of Comments, one can easily converse with other writers and have a better content in hand. There are many version of this software available. Standard, Business and Education. Many of their versions are not free. So, make sure before you click download.
Compatibility: Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista
8. AbleWord:
Probably the most easy to use software on our list of 10 Best free PDF Editing Software for Windows is AbleWord. This software allows the users to edit, extract, insert and convert text into multiple file formats. It can even be used as a substitute of MS Office as this one stop software has it all. One can create word files directly on AbleWord. The best part about this software is its multiple edit features are easy to learn and make a user confident in editing their content. Be warned, it doesn’t offer any more new updates or additional features.
Compatibility: Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista
9. Soda PDF:
Offering versions such as Standard, Pro and Pro+ OCR (Optical character recognition ). Soda PDF is one of the most user friendly of PDF Editing Softwares. While all versions allow easy editing, PRO+ OCR provides the added feature of scanning a PDF file and then reading it a word document. Make sure which version shall serve your needs the best and then download.
Compatibility: Windows 10/8/7,Vista and XP
10. PDF Buddy:
Last but not the least on our list of 10 Best free PDF Editing Software for Windows is PDF Buddy. This software’s name is the perfect explanation in regards to it’s features. An online portal, there is no need to download anything. Simply log on and upload your file. Then feel free to edit as per your wish. Additional focus has gone towards security as matters are to be uploaded online, hence, PDF Buddy uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and AES-256 bit encryption.
Compatibility: Windows 10/8/7,Vista and XP
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There you have it folks. The entire list of the 10 Best free PDF Editing Software for Windows. Do drop us a line if you want more softwares featured.
Have some old documents that require digitization? Best OCR Software Traditionally, you need to manually type each and every word to convert them. But you no longer have to follow the old process thanks to some good and powerful OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software. In case you are wondering, here are some of the best OCR software for you to try.
How does OCR Work?
The way OCR in computer works, is much like how your brain process characters (letters, numbers, punctuation marks etc). When you read something, your eyes recognize the patterns of light and dark that make up the characters printed on the screen and your brain is matching these patterns with data it has already stored.
Computers can do this too. They take one character at a time and match it with the vast library of characters stored in the software. Although OCR software has come a long way in past few decades, they are still not as accurate as humans.
If you feed them a computer printed document, like your unity bills or a screenshot of webpage, then it’s fairly easy for the software to convert it into editable document. But, if you ask a software to convert handwritten note to editable text, then accuracy depends from software to software. So, let’s check out some of the best OCR Software available out there.
Best OCR Software
1. OneNote
OneNote is not just a note taking and organizing app. It is very powerful at what it does and has a wide range of features to make things work. Of all the features, OCR functionality is one of the best.
To extract the text for a picture, all you have to do is right-click on it and select the option “Copy text from the picture“. If you are using OneNote UWP app then you have to right-click, select Picture and then select the option “Copy Text”. This action will scan the image and copies all the text in it to the clipboard. Once copied, you can paste it in whatever file you want.
However, one thing to keep mind is that when scanning and copying the text from a picture or PDF, OneNote will ignore any and all formatting and layout styles. It just copies simple and unformatted text from the picture or image.
The good thing about OneNote is that since it automatically scans the image in the background, it is also searchable within OneNote no matter what device you are using. So, if you only use the OCR functionality occasionally then OneNote serves the purpose pretty good.
Pricing: Free.
Platform: Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, and Web app.
2. Google Docs
Google Docs is a very popular and free service that allows you to quickly create Word documents, Excel sheets, Presentations, etc. The good thing about Google Docs is that you don’t have to signup for it separately. If you have a Gmail account, you already have access to Google Docs and Google Drive. Though Google Docs is not as powerful as Microsoft Office, it sure has a very good OCR support. In fact, just like OneNote, Google Docs makes it very easy to extract text from a picture. Just upload the picture to Google Drive, right-click on it and select the option “Open with > Google Docs.” The picture is instantly scanned, and a new Document will be created with the copied text.
When scanning text from a picture or PDF, Google Docs tries to keep the formatting as much as possible but it is not perfect. You might see some inconsistencies in formatting and just like OneNote, Google Docs ignores any and all document layout styles. So, if you are an avid Google user and only use the OCR functionality occasionally then Google Doc’s OCR feature is pretty good. You don’t need to install yet another software.
Bonus Tip: You can also use Google Keep to extract text from images and printouts. It uses the same technology as Google Drive but it’s much faster on mobile and web.
Pricing: Free.
Platform: Being a web app, Google Docs is platform independent. All you need is a browser to access Google Docs.
3. ABBYY FineReader
ABBYY FineReader is one of the most popular and feature-rich applications to accurately convert scanned files, documents, and PDFs. Unlike Google Docs or OneNote, ABBYY FineReader can keep the formatting and layout styles like heading, tables, footers, lists, graphs, charts, etc., intact while converting and copying the text from a picture, scanned document, or a PDF.
Out of the box, ABBYY FineReader can output scanned documents or pictures in a variety of formats like text, excel, word, doc, epub, etc. If you are someone who uses OCR feature extensively then ABBYY FineReader makes it easy by converting your documents automatically. All you have to do is configure ABBYY FineReader to monitor a folder. Once set, every time you add a new picture, scanned document, or a PDF, ABBYY will automatically convert and save the output according to your settings. Apart from that, you can also compare two documents to quickly find any differences between them.
Pricing: ABBYY FineReader comes in three different flavors called Standard, Corporate, and Enterprise which costs you a one-time fee of $84.5, $124.5, and $224.5 per user. Though there is no free version, there is a 30-day free trial to try the software before deciding to buy it.
Platform support: Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS
4. Boxoft Free OCR
If you are looking for a dedicated but free OCR software then Bpxoft Free OCR is for you. The good thing about Boxoft Free OCR is that it can directly integrate with your scanner hardware and convert documents and pictures as soon as they are scanned. There is no need for you to save the image, import it to Boxoft and then convert it to text, it’s just automated for you.
Other features of Boxoft Free OCR include the ability to extract text from a single or selected page with just a click, recognize characters in multiple languages, edit OCR text within the same interface, define page range while outputting, etc. As powerful as it is, Boxoft Free OCR cannot retain formatting or layout styles while converting an image to text. It just outputs as a plain text. Moreover, it doesn’t support PDF documents.
Nonetheless, if you are looking for a free and good OCR software then do give Boxoft Free OCR a try and see if it fits your needs.
Pricing: Free.
Platform support: Windows only.
5. Readiris Pro
Readiris Pro is yet another good software that makes it very easy to convert images or pictures to text with just a few clicks. Just like Boxoft Free OCR, Readiris Pro integrates with your scanner hardware to convert any scanned document automatically. Apart from converting scanned documents, Readiris Pro can also convert all your PDF documents as and when needed. The good thing about Readiris Pro is that while outputting, it allows you to choose between a multitude of formats like docx, pdf, xlsx, odt, epub, html, text, etc. Other features of the software include but not limited to support for multiple languages, ability to create indexed PDF files, cloud backup, ability to convert documents to audio, batch process documents, retain layouts and formatting of text, etc.
Pricing: To use Readiris Pro you need to pay $99 per license. To test the software before buying there is a 10-day free trial available, you can download it from here.
Platform support: Windows and MacOS.
Wrapping Up
Best Free Pdf Software 2018 Reviews
If you only need OCR capabilities occasionally and don’t mind plain-text without any formatting then OneNote or Google Docs is good enough. If you are someone who does a lot of OCR stuff then do give ABBYY FineReader or Readiris Pro a try. If you are limited on budget then Boxoft Free OCR should do the trick.
Though, before you buy a paid OCR reader, first find some documents that are representative of the ones you want to scan and test it out.
That’s it for now. Comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences about using the above software for your OCR needs.
Best Free Pdf Software 2018 Pc
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